I Fear Myself
by Akylina11
Summary: (Editing) 15 years has gone past since she has forgotten her past. But it finally caught up when she became 21. The Shibungi want her dead, why? Is she destined to be with a ninja? And why does she have to fear to survive? She has to fear and be the Ninja Princess, or not fear and be killed by the enemy. And the only one who knows everything is Kiko. Kotaro x OC (Imahana)
1. The Past Is Scary

_Back during the time of the samurais and ninjas, there lived a princess. A young princess living in a temple with her grandfather. She is pure; beauty and kindness. She is loved by everyone and even the animals in the forest and jungles adore her._

 _But what she was never told was that she united all ninjas. She is a sign that all ninjas look up to._

 _But she doesn't know her past._

 _When she was 6, her estate was attacked by the Shibungi; a clan of ninjas and samurais working together to make the world fall into their hands and into ruin. They were trying to kidnap and kill her. They knew that once they didn't have her in the world, that the ninjas would have no one to look up to and lose hope - making them surrender._

 _Her parents knew that the day was coming when they needed to hide their one and only child to protect her as the sign of the ninjas and herself to grow up and live a long and healthy life. Her father had taken her while she slept and hid her in a fox hole far from the estate. But after placing her and wishing her a great journey ahead, he places a cloth object near her. Hoping that when she wakes up, she will retrieve this object; the only thing that can last her forever that was passed down through generations. Her parents were slaughtered not too long after hiding her. And her home burnt down into the ashes._

 _The next morning, the girl woke up and found herself in a fox hole that she was placed in the following night; but she doesn't know that. Curious, she looked round the small den that was barely able to fit a large fox but she was able to look at the short roots of some plants above her. When she finally was able to get outside, she saw that she was in the middle of the woods; far from home and surrounded by thick bushery. The girl instinctively began to panic and hurried back into the hole in a panic, she suddenly noticed a cloth with some sort of object wrapped inside it. Unwrapping the cloth slowly and carefully, she found a dagger. It was a silver dagger that shined in the little morning light that was coming through the opening of the fox hole with some jewels on the handle and a beautiful carved design on the blade. She touched the tip of the blade out of puzzlement and pricked herself just lightly enough to get a small drop of blood. When her blood dropped on the blade it glowed a bright light and she felt a surge of energy coming up into her body. The glow faded away and she covered it with the cloth again and wrapped it in her sash so it wouldn't fall out._

 _She then again exited the hole and walked the bushery in a random direction until she could find a familiar place; hoping to go back home. And she did after some time. The girl found her way onto a path that looked to be familiar until she saw that it was the same path she would walk to the river on. But a new presence of eyes made a shiver go down her spine. Turning around, she saw that there was a mother wolf with three pups standing between her legs and staring at her in curiosity. One pup walks up to her with a little wobble in his step and lightly barks as it made its way to her feet and she kneels down and give it a little scratch between its ears. Then the mother wolf and other pups walk up to her and lay next to her. The mother didn't mind that a human girl was with her pups. She had already knew that she would never harm them. She was having fun with the pups until a golden-white owl lands on her head. Looking up and placing her hand next to her head, the owl walked on to the hand and she lowered it to her lap. The other pups looked at it in curiosity. Then she heard a soft voice behind her._

" _Hosuke has never done that with anyone."_

 _She didn't know who it was but when she turned around she saw that it was a boy; a little older than her. He looked at the owl in surprise and it stared back at him. She pets the wolf and pups one last time before they stood up and left. She also stood up and walked toward the boy, who was still standing in the middle of the path. When she was close to him, she extended her hand out with the owl on it and he flew onto the boy's shoulder. They were staring at each other, not saying a word. She admired his feature. Long white hair, dark crimson eyes, tall and lean body. But the silence finally broke when another boy ran up behind them. He looked as young as her and had orangish, reddish hair. He seemed all cheery when running towards them._

" _Kotaro, we've been looking everywhere for you!"_

" _Sasuke! Stop acting childish! We're on a mission to look for the princess. Not Kotaro." Another boy follows him. He looks serious. That boy looked like he would be 11 years old. He had dark blue hair and very dark violet eyes. He also had a golden chain with a white fluffy feather in the end of it, attached to his hair strands._

 _But what was going through her head was that she knew she was a Princess because her parents always said she would heir the treasures soon. But she didn't know what treasures though._

" _Saizo, did you forget that I'm still a child? So I'm supposed to act like this." Sasuke finally sees the girl in front of Kotaro and smiles widely._

" _You're so cute!" He jumps on her and hugs her really tightly but Kotaro quickly grabs Sasuke on the back of the neck and peels him off her._

" _She seems shy, so don't do that with her." Kotaro looks at the girl again. They still don't know who she was. But she thinks they are looking for her. Saizo starts talking again; trying to get them back on track._

" _You two. Leave her alone. We have to look for the princess." He turns around to check out the surroundings. "I think the estate has to be here somewhere." The girl also looks down the path behind her and bites her lower lip._

" _I know where it is." The Princess finally talks in a quiet voice._

" _Where is it?" Saizo asked._

 _She didn't respond. She just starts walking down the path behind her and the boys followed her._

 _When they arrived at the estate, they saw how everything was burnt to the ground. Barely anything was seen of the home. The Princess was shocked as she saw the scenery in front of her. She didn't know what happened. She didn't know what happened. Until a small flag on the stairway caught her attention. Slowly walking to the flag, she witnesses the horrific symbol of the Shibungi. Tears formed in her eyes and fell on her hands and knees. Tears started running down her face onto the burnt floor. She knew who it was. Yet she was very young, she knew who the enemy was. She has been educated and learned about them before they started on basics of other education. She took out her dagger that she was carrying on her belt and looked at it with a blurry vision. Her right hand clenched onto the handle of the dagger hard._

" _Mother….Father…" She let go of the dagger and let it fall to the ashed ground. Then falling to her knees, she cried harder as she felt loneliness surrounded her from the death of her parents._

 _Saizo, Kotaro, and Sasuke watched her cry with all her might. They had the faces of realization and then disappointment. Kotaro was the first to walk to her. As he knelt down on his knees, he embraced her tightly and she instantly held onto him and cried. Sasuke and Saizo walked up to them and sat next to the two on the ground. Sasuke started combing his fingers through her hair to sooth her._

 _Once she settled down, she told them she was the Princess and why she thinks she was in the forest. She confessed that she knew nothing of what was going on and why she was placed into a fox hole. The boys then introduced themselves to her as ninjas in training and told her why they were looking for her. When she finally understood, they stood up and left the burnt down estate and the memories behind them._

 _They walked for a while until they reached a camp where the boys stayed. And there was a man talking to another boy. The boy looked to be as old as Saizo. He had long red hair, golden eyes, and had a red Aztec tattoo on his left arm and shoulder. He turns his head as he sees everyone come back with the Princess and does a loud whistle as he starts walking towards them. And so does the man. He was really tall and had a small smile on his face as he approched the group._

" _Well who is this you have with you?" The boy with red hair stops in front of them but stares directly at the Princess._

" _This is Goemon. He is also a ninja in training." Sasuke whispers in her ear and she looks at his features._

" _Awww. What kind of intro was that?" He looks up at Sasuke and frowns. Kotaro then stood in front of her; like he was protecting the girl._

" _This is the Ninja Princess. Don't disrespect her." He narrows his eyes at Goemon and Goemon does the same._

" _Welcome Princess." The man bowed to the Princess as he walked up to the group. "My name is Hattori Hanzo. But you may call me Hanzo. I'm the master of these ninjas in training." The Princess also bowed to him. "Where are your parents?" He looked around but didn't see what he was looking for. She hung her head and the long hair covered her eyes._

" _Her parents were slaughtered and burned in the fire with their estate." Saizo says in disappointment._

" _She was found in the middle of the forest, while Kotaro was trying to find Hosuke." Sasuke also sounded a little disappointed._

" _I told you we should have been here two days ago. But," Hanzo stops mid sentence and glares at Goemon._

" _Hey! It wasn't my fault. Kotaro was the one who let Paka out." He points at Kotaro who was feeding Hosuke a cracker._

" _Nu-uh!" He rejects. "Sasuke dared me too!" He also points at Sasuke. "So it's mostly his fault."_

" _I wasn't even with you that day!" Sasuke raises his voice at Kotaro._

" _Yeah, you were!"_

" _No, I wasn't!"_

" _Yeah, you were!"_

" _Hahahahahahaha!" The Princess couldn't hold in her laughter anymore and laughs out loud. Sasuke and Kotaro stop arguing at each other and everyone looks at her._

" _Hey. Why you laughing?" Sasuke looks at her curiously._

" _Hahaha." Goemon starts laughing with her and so does Saizo. Kotaro and Sasuke look at each other and start to join everyone with the laughter. Hanzo does a little laugh before walking back to his tent._

 _Everyone settled down and they all went to eat and went to bed. The Princess had long conversations with each of the boys and got to know them a little more._

 _The Princess had a hard time sleeping that night. She tossed and turned all night. By one in the morning, she got a nightmare of her parents being murdered by the Shibungi. She wasn't there but it seemed like she was in the estate when it caught fire. She saw her mother trying to run away from the Shibungi, but was shot in the leg with an arrow. She fell to the ground with a scream and a samurai walked up to her and picked her up by her hair._

" _Where is she?" The samurai asks her as he puts his blade to her neck._

" _I'll never tell you!" Her mother tried to sound confident, but that only put the blade in her neck. Her head rolled away from her limp body._

" _Ahh!" She woke up in a start and felt sweat running down her body. She was shaking all over her body and she couldn't stop it. Her breathing was ragged and her heartbeat raced, causing her chest to begin to hurt._

" _You okay?" She jumped when she heard a voice behind her and spun around to see Kotaro sitting cross legged next to her pillow. She relaxed when she saw that it was just him. Kotaro moves close and sits next to her._

" _What did you dream about?" He looked at her concerned._

" _I was in the fire. My mother tried to run from a samurai but was killed because she didn't tell him where I was." She started crying again. Kotaro embraces her like he did back at the estate and calmed her down._

" _Let's get some sleep. I can sleep with you tonight if you want." The Princess nodded and they laid down on the futon together, Kotaro still embracing the shaken girl._

" _By the way,"_

" _Yes?"_

" _What's your name?"_

" _Imahana."_


	2. Ima- is the present

**7 Years Later**

Imahana was walking through the forest with a basket full of persimmons from a tree she found near the river where she goes to swim.

Things have changed.

She has been living in a temple with a priest and many servants and monks who she now calls family. She has been getting her education and is learning sword fight and ninjutsu from some of the monks. But she still isn't very good at it.

Imahana doesn't remember much from the day her parents were killed or what happened after. She had forgotten about the ninjas she met that day and didn't have anymore nightmares. And she still doesn't understand the purpose of the silver dagger that has been with her since she has come to the temple.

Today is Imahanas 13th birthday and she wanted to surprise everyone at the temple with all these ripe persimmons. Imahana always gave. Even on her birthday; she always found something to give to all the people that raised her and was always thankful for the healthy life she lives. When she enters the temples garden, she sees a monk meditating and quietly chanting words out loud. She didn't want to disturb him so she just walked towards the balcony as quietly as she could. The monk must have heard her footsteps because he spoke to her.

"Where are you going?" The monk turns his head and looks at the basket full of persimmons in Imahana's small arms.

"I was just going to give everyone some of these ripe fruits." She replies with a smile and tips the basket to show the monk the orange fruits.

"Imahana, it's your special day." The monk stood up and walked towards her. "But I would love one of those persimmons." She smiles from ear to ear and reached into the basket, pulled out a persimmon, and handing it to him. He bites into it and smiles widely. "These are delicious!"

"I knew you would enjoy them." She let out little giggle. Then walking up the steps to the temple she opened the sliding door, not expecting the group of people.

"SURPRISE!" Imahana jumped back when she heard everyone shout out surprise. She definitely was surprised! The room was decorated with flowers and colorful paper, and the long table was covered with all sorts of foods.

"What's all this?" Yet Imahana was confused, she still smiled in happiness when she saw all the monks and servants there. And so was the headman of the nearby village. Her "grandfather" walked up to her and took her free hand into his.

"Happy Birthday Imahana. We all wanted to celebrate your thirteenth birthday so we made a feast for everyone in the temple." He had a glorious smile on his face. She would love to celebrate with everyone!

"Okay!" She nodded. "And I shall also add these persimmons to the fruits here." Imahana places the basket of fruit on the table and everyone takes their seats.

Imahana looked around at all the faces in the room and notices an unfamiliar face.

" _Who is that?"_ She looks at him curiously until her grandfather notices her staring.

"Oh. That's the headmans son. Hattori Hanzo."

" _Hattori Hanzo."_ That name sounds familiar but she doesn't know from where she heard it from. " _Well enough of that,"_ She thought to herself. " _Time to party!"_

Meanwhile outside

"I don't understand why we can't be inside with them." Sunset came and dawn has broken the horizon as the ninjas sat on the trees of the perimeter and watched from afar. Goemon was sitting on a sturdy tree branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree and complains.

"Well if we were told to secure the perimeter, then we stay in the perimeter." Saizo sat cross legged on the same branch as Goemon and narrowed his eyes at him of his complaints.

"And it's her thirteenth birthday." Sasuke leaned around the trunk and looked down at Goemon. "You should be proud of her."

"Hanzo told me that she stopped having nightmares of that day that we found her." Kotaro was on a higher branch. Also leaning against the trunk of the tree. "And that she forgot she was the Ninja Princess." Kotaro was still a quiet kid. He was now seventeen years old, while Saizo and Goemon are nineteen and Sasuke was thirteen.

They didn't change much, only the age. They are close to becoming high ranking ninjas by this time, and they still have the job of protecting Imahana. For the war is still not over.

"By the way," Sasuke starts speaking again after a long silence. "What does Imahana mean?"

"Ima means the present." Saizo answers the first part of her name.

"And Hana means flower blossom." Goemon answers the second part of her name.

"So her name means 'the present flower blossom'?" Sasuke holds his chin and thinks about it. "I like it!" He then smiles brightly.

An owl flew past the three ninjas and lands on Kotaro's shoulder and Hosuke points his white wing to the garden. Kotaro glances in the direction and sees what looks like a young samurai. He has two swords on his belt and a open kimono that seemed to have been torn in a few places. He was heading towards the entrance of the temple. Kotaro looks at the three ninjas, seeing that they notice the samurai also; they nodded to each other and jump down from the branches. But it was a little too late.

The doors flew open and everyone looks back at who was standing in the doorway. And standing in the doorway was a tall man. He had a blank look in his eyes as he scanned the room. And when he finally saw Imahana in the middle of the room, he walks towards her without hesitation. Imahanas grandfather stared at the man walking towards them and Imahana followed his sight. She gasped when she saw this six foot man walking towards her. But yet he was tall, he looked to be about eighteen years old. He finally stopped in front of her and gazed down at her. The room had an intense silence to it.

"May I help you?" Imahana finally spoke. She was shaking in her voice and her hands.

"Yeah. You Imahana Reinaoka?" He didn't change his gaze from her.

She hesitates before replying. "Yes."

"Please come with me." He turned on his heel and walked towards the door. His long green hair swayed back and forth with each step. She reluctantly followed behind him and kept looking back at the priest in fear, until they reached the balcony. He shut the door behind her and walked down the steps.

"Um," Imahana still didn't know why he asked her out here.

"I don't want to do this." He stops in the middle of garden and hangs his head. She walks up behind him and asks,

"Do wh," Before she can finish her question, the man turns around in lightning speed and held a blade to her neck. But she could tell by his eyes that he didn't want to kill her. He seemed reluctant.

"Where is it?" He asks in a harsh voice, yet his reluctance was filling his narrow eyes as he stared at Imahana.

"What?" Imahana was confused of what he was asking her.

"The treasures. Where are they?" He inches the blade closer to her neck and Imahana can feel a slight sting on her skin.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about?"

"I don't know anything about these treasures!"

"Are you saying that the Princess of Reinaoka herself doesn't know about the families treasures?"

"Princess?" She whispered in a low voice to herself. "I'm a not a princess of anything." She was really confused about the situation right then and there.

"I suggest that you stay away from her." Then she heard another voice.

Around them two were four tall, unfamiliar men. They look like ninjas to her, but to the man, he totally knew that they were ninjas.

"Well if it ain't my old friends; Saizo, Kotaro, Goemon, and Sasuke." Everytime he said one of their names, he looked straight at them. "Came here to protect her from the Shibungi?"

"What? Are you on their side?" Goemon asks in a sharp tone.

"I'm just being paid to do this." He finally takes the blade off of her neck and she fell back. But before Imahana could touch the ground, Sasuke caught her and held her up.

"Oh. And by the way Princess," The man looks back at her and sheaths his sword. "My name is Musashi Miyamoto. I was sent by the Shibungi to get your treasure and kill you." He looks around at the ninjas, "But looks like I can't."

"Leave. Now." Saizo glares at Musashi and he starts to leave.

"I won't tell them anything. I already have the money." He takes out a small pouch with zeni in it and shakes it. Then disappears into the darkness.

Imahana suddenly felt a nauseating in her gut and her vision suddenly became a blur. She got a throbbing headache and dizziness. She then falls back and loses consciousness.

"Princess!" The ninjas run towards the fallen Princess and the closest to her was Kotaro, so he picks her up in a cradle and carry her back inside. The ninjas walk back to the balcony and open the sliding door. When she was in sight with everyone they all gasped and ran towards her. Her grandfather slides through the crowd and sees Imahana in Kotaro's arms.

"Kotaro will lay the Princess down in her room." Hanzo places his hand on the priest shoulder and tells Kotaro with his eyes what to do.

"I will let a servant show you to her room." The priest calls a servant over and she shows Kotaro when Imahana sleeps.

Once he got to her room, Kotaro lays the unconscious girl down on her futon. She groans as if she is in pain. Kotaro then asks the servant to bring him a cold wet towel cloth for her. While the servant did that, Kotaro took out a bag of powder from his pocket to help with the cut that Musashi has made on her neck and he smoothes it all over the neck. When the servant comes back with a wet cloth, she hands it to Kotaro and he moves her hair away from her face to place the cloth on her forehead.

The servant has left the room and it was quiet. The night critters came out and sang their songs outside of Imahana's window. Kotaro looks at her with worrying eyes as he sat next to her pillow. He could hear the others on the other side of the paper sliding door. So he caresses the princess's cheek and kisses it lightly. He slowly got up to his feet and without making anything move in a slight wind, he walks back to the door.

When Kotaro emerges from Imahanas room; Hanzo, Sasuke, Saizo, and Goemon were all standing outside in the hallway and he joins the circle.

"Who did this anyways?" Hanzo looks around at the expressionless faces of the ninjas.

"Musashi Miyamoto." All the ninjas say at the same time.

"Ah. So that ronin got paid to do this, didn't he?" Hanzo's expression darkened at the sound of Musashi's name. The ninjas did nothing but nod.

"But he isn't on their side though." Sasuke adds.

"I don't trust that bastard." Goemon argues with Sasuke's comment and tightens his fists.

"He only got paid. That means he already got what he wanted." Saizo adds to Sasuke's remark.

"But he hurt her. We had to protect her and he just slipped right through our fingers!" Goemon was really pissed off as he talked about the ronin.

"Why did you let him go anyways, Saizo?" Sasuke asks.

"Because I don't really want to deal with him right now." Saizo replies flatly. Hanzo looks away from Saizo to the quiet man next to him.

"How bad did he cut her?" He noticed the cut on her neck when coming in.

"Not a deep cut." Kotaro answers in a short manner.

"Also, we have to keep an eye out for some specific presents." Saizo looks at Imahanas door to her room. And the other men follow his sight.

"And who is that?"

"The Shibungi."

"Are you telling me that after seven years in hiding, they have finally came out to kill the Princess after all this time?" Hanzo, Saizo, Goemon, and Sasuke went back to the Hattori household in the Izumi Village. Hanzo has requested that Kotaro stays with Imahana to watch out for any other intruders.

"My question is why seven years?" Sasuke was counting the numbers of years that have passed since they have last seen the Shibungi.

"What's so special about her becoming thirteen?" Saizo also wondering about the age thing.

"Maybe it's about the main numbers." Goemon thinks of a suggestion.

"What do you mean?"

"She became thirteen today, right? What if they also attempt to kill her at eighteen and or at twenty-one."

"I think you've got a point there Goemon."

"Yeah. But does that really mean the we have to wait another five years until the Princess's eighteenth birthday?" Saizo asks.

"No. No, we don't have to." Hanzo shook his head while he was in thought.

"What do you mean we don't have to? Are we gonna time travel into the future?" Saizo asks as he started getting annoyed with this guessing game.

"What is that assassin's name? The one in the Hisoka Village?" Hanzo asks Goemon, who is trying to remember any previous missions.

"Berubetto Cho, if I know who you mean."

"Yeah, her."

"What's so special about her?" Saizo grunted.

"Didn't she try to assassinate your father because he kicked her family out of the village and killed her little brother in front of her?" Sasuke seemed to know what her history was about.

"He killed him because he stole something from the headmans home. And yes, he kicked them out of the village. Seems like she wanted to avenge her brother's death with my fathers. I heard that she learned to fight from a blind samurai who could tell the future. He gets these visions when he touches something or someone. And before he died, passed it on to her." Saizo was listening all the way. But something started getting to him.

"You saying she can tell the future when she touches something? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know." Hanzo replies Saizo, making him slam his fist into the table.

"You're saying that we are gonna go up to an assassin who holds a grudge for you and the headman and beg her to tell us the future that we don't even know if she can even see the future?!"

"Saizo! Calm down!" Sasuke pushes Saizo into the wall making him silent. Hanzo closed his eyes and slightly nodded his head in agreement.

"You're right. We don't know if she can see the future, but we have to try."

"I'm all in." Goemon says. He had a big grin on his face for some reason. "She was my first mission where I had to seduce a woman. I wonder if she remembers me? She left a lot earlier then me."

"Is that why you started sleeping with women when you became fourteen?" Sasuke had one of those 'why do you do that' faces on.

"Yeah. And I enjoy every second of it."

"Don't you dare try anything with the Princess, Goemon!" Saizo opens his mouth again and raises his voice at Goemon.

"I won't. And besides, she has no sex appeal."

"What?! She so has some appeal to her!" Sasuke jumps into the conversation.

"She's flat chested, Sasuke! No sex appeal."

While the three ninjas argued about the Princesses appeal, Hanzo writes a letter to the headman of Hisoka Village telling them that they will be arriving in a few days, then handing the letter to the messenger.

A few days later

"So this is the Hisoka Village?" Sasuke look around at the village as he dismounts his horse.

The village was surrounded by trees and bushes but once you past the entrance of the village it looks like any normal village. There are wondering villagers coming in and out of shops and cafes and vendors selling fruits and vegetables. It looks nothing like the boot camp low-ranking ninjas talk about.

"Hisoka means secret." Saizo also dismounts his horse. "And as you can tell, this village isn't on the map."

The village was in the middle of the forest and mountains and it is where most ninjas stay before heading onto a mission or they will train here. It is also a place where they keep assassins or killers that they think they need for information. Such as Berubetto Cho.

"So where do they keep Cho?" Saizo looks back at Goemon who was riding right behind them.

"How am I supposed to know? I just brought her here, not get her into the chamber."

"Ah, so are you the ninjas that were sent from the Izumi Village about the assassin?" A man walks up to the four men.

"Yes we are." Hanzo replies while dropping to the ground from his horse.

"Come with me." He waves them to follow him and they walk behind him for a while.

When they got to a cave entrance, the man stopped and looked back at the ninjas with a frown.

"Just to warn you, this assassin knew you were coming and knows your plans. You must be careful around her. She is very dangerous."

"How is she dangerous?" Sasuke asks with a little quiver in his voice that he tries to hide. Secretly; he was nervous.

"You will find out." That's all he said until he entered the cave.

They walked down the long tunnel until they reached the end. And the man opens a door that can't be seen by ordinary people. You have to have good eyesight to see it in the dark. So it's practically invisible. The ninjas then follow the man down another tunnel until they reached a cell. The cells caged door was wide open and there was no one in the cell.

"Where the hell is she?!" Saizo runs up to the door and into the cell, before the others can follow in the door slammed shut and locked. "What?!" Saizo was trapped in the cell block and didn't know how.

"What the hell just happened?" Sasuke asked panicky.

"Saizo. Try kicking the door open!" Hanzo quickly suggested.

Saizo kicked at the door but it didn't budge.

"Get me out of here!" He slammed his fist into the door and felt a stabbing pain go into his arm. "Ah."

"That looked like it hurt." Saizo heard a voice from behind him and spun around. "Hey!"

A woman was standing behind him with a smile on her face. But he couldn't read what kind of smile.

"Cho, let him out." The man asked the woman, who seemed to be the assassin, politely and calmly to open the gate and let Saizo out. That made her giggle like a child.

"Hehehe. Okay!" She snapped her fingers and the cell gate opened. Saizo walked on the other side of the cell wall and shuts the gate. Cho didn't seem to mind if she was on the inside.

"How did she do that?" Sasuke had his mouth dropped open at all the events that just happened.

"I knew you would say that." Cho walks up to Sasuke from the other side of the gate and keeps a smile on her face. "My master showed me how to use my mind to move objects. But it is pretty rare and I will never pass it on." Then that face turned into a frown.

"She's scary." Sasuke leans into Goemon's ear and whispers.

"In bed." Goemon makes a seductive smile at her. "Remember me?" He leans in towards her face.

"I don't see the past, Goemon. I see the future."

"Oh, so you do remember me."

Cho does a hiss like what a cat would do and walks to the middle of the cell block. "So back to business. You want me to see the next time the Princess will be attempted to be killed by the Shibungi." She starts meditating and floats off the ground a few feet.

"How is she doing that?" Sasuke was surprised by her every move.

"I told you. My master gave me his power and I love it!" Cho puts on her smile again.

"Yeah. Can you do that?" Hanzo asks.

Cho closes her eyes. She seems to be concentrating on meditating. Her white hair started floating around her like there was a wind in the cell and so was her kimono. After a few seconds of being relaxed and just meditating, she starts tightening her eyes and puts her hands on the side of her head. The four on the other side of the block start to worry when they saw her in pain. Cho then screams out in pain as she tightens her grip on her head.

" _Tell me where they are!" Then the leader of the Shibungi yells at Imahana to tell her where the treasures are._

" _I won't tell you anything." She tries to reject but the man punched her on the cheek and she falls on the ground._

Cho saw images of Imahana being kidnapped and tortured by the Shibungi. She falls onto the ground and starts having a nose bleed.

"Berubetto!" The men run inside the cell to Cho and help her. She picks herself up and wipes her nose with the sleeve of her kimono.

"What happened?"

"What did you see?" They asked her one at a time.

"I don't know when." She looks down at the ground in disgust because of herself.

Sasuke places his hand on her back and she gasps. Her hazel eyes turning white.

"You." She turns to Sasuke. "You are gonna die from a poisonous arrow in your arms." She then turns to Goemon who was right next to Sasuke. She places her hand on his cheek and again her eyes change shades.

"You will die from seducing a prostitute. She is paid to assassinate you." She lets go of his cheek.

"Saizo. One of your followers will hang you. But I don't know why."

"Followers?" Saizo raises an eyebrow at her.

"Hanzo." Cho kneels in front of Hanzo and looks at him in the eye. Slowly, she places her hand on his cheek and only a second later she clenches her head again and falls to the ground.

"What do you see?!" He picks her up and asks her. "What did you see from them that can help the Princess?"

"Everything that I saw was all how you died protecting the Princess." Then she looks at Goemon. "Except you."

"Saizo gets hung, Sasuke dies from a poison, Goemon gets assassinated. What happens to me?"

"Father kills you."

"What?" Hanzo was shocked. "Why would he kill his only son?!"

"Because you visited me and sent me free. He thinks you want him dead." Hanzo had his mouth dropped open and looked to be in grief. Saizo doesn't seem to fall for it and throws her to the wall.

"How can we be sure that you aren't lying to us just to be released?"

Her eyes turned white for a moment as she continues to stare at him. "Because Hosuke has sent you a letter about the recovery of the Princess."

"Huh?" After saying this, Hosuke flies in the cell and lands on Hanzo's shoulder. He picks the letter that was tied to his leg and read it.

"The Princess is conscious and is doing fine. Just an update it says." Hanzo looks up at Cho and walks up to her. "Will you help us?" He extended his hand towards her.

"You should just leave me here." Cho looks down to the ground again. "I don't know when the Shibungi will attack next."

"That doesn't mean you will be useless." Hanzo kneels down in front of her and places his palm on her cheek.

"Yeah. You can see the future and that will help us with some missions." Sasuke also walks up to the two.

"I still don't trust you." Saizo glares at Cho but she just ignores him.

"And we can have some more fun." Goemon gives her another seductive smile.

And she gives him another hiss.

"And you can save the Princess." Hanzo looks at her with calm eyes and slowly brings his face closer to hers.

"Do you want me to that badly?" She looks down at Hanzo's lips then up to his eyes again.

"Yes."

"Okay."

Hanzo and Cho kiss each other passionately and everyone widens their eyes.

"Gag! That's gross." Sasuke imitates himself throwing up.

"He took my girl." Goemon smiles a sarcastic smile.

"I'm leaving." Saizo walks out of the cell and the others follow. Once everyone left, the couple parts their lips and smile at each other.

"We should get going." Hanzo stands and extended his hand towards Cho again.

"Okay." And she doesn't refuse this time.

So they than walked out of the cave hand in hand.


	3. Haha- is a flower blossom

**8 years later**

It was the day before Imahanas 21 birthday. She was riding her pure black filly through the forest like she did everyday.

But today was different.

She was told to stay away from the temple for they would be planning something. She guessed it would be for her birthday tomorrow, but she still listened and stayed away. She walked through her favorite maze, galloped through a lavender field, splashed in the rivers, and jumped over low trees and bushes.

She wasn't the type of girl to ride in a saddle. She always rode without any tack. Usually the only thing that was around the horse's neck was a rope vine made out of different vines of plants and decorated with flowers and leaves. Villagers say they have never seen anyone being able to ride without tack so they say she very talented.

Oka is a 6 year old loyal friesian. She has a very long mane and tail and is very high spirited, just like her rider; Imahana. She also has beautiful big bright blue eyes that pop out when it's a sunny day.

Ever since she was rescued by Imahana in a cherry blossom forest, she has loved and listened to her. She hasn't done anything bad to her because Imahana has been loving and caring to Oka. And they both love to explore.

While riding through the cherry blossom forest that day, Imahana heard a screeching sound from one of the blooming trees. It was a continuous noise that sounded like an animal was hurt. She dismounted Oka and walked to a nearby blossom that sounded like the source of the sound. When she climbed to the branches of the tree, she spotted a golden-white owl. It looked like he got his wing snatched in a branch but the owl didn't seem to be struggling to get free. The owl just continued to make the screeching sound.

"Wow. Easy there." Imahana talked to it in a calm voice and reached out her hand. She untangled the owl's wings and lets it walk onto her hand. "Good boy."

She climbed down the tree then heard another voice come from behind some blossoms.

"Hosuke!" She heard a man yell out a name. "Hosuke!"

" _Is he looking for this owl?"_ She thought to herself as she looks towards the direction of the voice. The owl lets out another screech as if to let him know where he was.

Then a man emerged from behind a blossom and gets a surprised look on his face. He looked like he would be older than Imahana. He has long white hair and beautiful scarlet eyes. He came closer to Imahana, still with that surprised look on his face and extended out his arm.

He clicked his tongue and the owl hopped onto his arm.

She started feeling a little awkward with the silence surrounding them, so she wanted to start a conversation. "So this is Hosuke?"

"Yes."

"Is he a owl?"

"Yes."

"Do you talk?" He keeps silent after the question.

"Neigh!" Oka trots up to Imahana and the man and rears up in excitement. Tossing her head around and pawing the ground.

"Hehe! Oka!" Imahana walks up to her horse and pets her on the nose. "You're still full of energy! Okay." She jumps onto her back and pats Oka on the neck. "Let's go to the fields. The hay is mature there." Oka neighs again in excitement and nods her head, making Imahana giggle.

"May I join you?" Imahana looked down at the man in surprise as he finally spoke. "I have my own horse."

He whistles back in the direction behind him and appears was a pure white stallion who trots from behind a blossom where he hid. He had a black bridle on but no saddle. The man mounts on the back of his horse and picks up his reins in both hands.

"He's beautiful." Imahana says as she walks up to the two males.

"He's an andalucian." He says as he pats the horse on the neck. "His name is White Samurai."

"Well this is Oka. She's a friesian." Oka bobs her head up and down then digs the ground in inpatients. "Haha. Okay, well let's go to the field. Just follow me." Imahana squeezes Oka into the trot and follows behind is White Samurai.

Once they exited the cherry blossom forest, White Samurai starts to take the lead in a slow gaited canter. Oka senses this and picks up the canter also. The man sees that his horse wanted a competition, so he kisses his lips and he picks up a faster beat canter; causing White Samurai to become more hot. Imahana sees this and narrows her eyes at him.

"You want a race," She kicks Oka and picks up a gallop. "You've got one!" She holds on tight to the horse's mane and sits deep. The man also picked up the gallop and was just a few strides away from them. The two horses jumped over bushes and dodged trees. Imahana realized they had finally reached the field but just kept galloping for the fun of it.

She loved to gallop in the fields. She would let her hair blow in the wind. Also letting her arms out on the side and her hands feeling the push of air. She can feel Oka's rhythm and close her eyes. The man watched her enjoy the freedom and stared at her in awe. With her arms stretched out, she looked like a bird with those long kimono sleeves. She was going in slow motion in his eyes. Hosuke flew next to Imahana and made a landing on her spread out hand with his wings still out. Imahana opens her eyes and glances at the bird. She raises her right hand higher and Hosuke lets go of her and flies past them.

Both of them galloped on the shore of the river where Imahana swims at. Imahana looks back at her opponent and they met eyes. They had their eyes locked on each other and Imahana couldn't look away from his crimson eyes.

Oka suddenly steers her head down and to the side; making Imahana fly into the deep river. White Samurai saw this and bucks a few large bucks. The man couldn't keep hold onto the reins and falls into the river near where Imahana was thrown into. Both Imahana and the man rise to the surface of the river and look towards their horses. White Samurai was rearing and digging into the ground as Oka was hiding behind Samurai and shook in fear.

"What was that?" Imahana asks in surprise. Knowing that Oka has never been scared of anything since riding her.

"A rattlesnake, I would guess." The man says as he swam to the shore and took Imahanas hand to help her out of the water. "Must have spooked the horses." Oka walks up to Imahana and looks at her with some fear in her eyes. Imahana furrows her brows and gives her a little rub on the forehead.

"Did that spook you Oka? You scared?" She pets her nose so she would calm down a little. She could feel her tension in the air.

"Good boy, Samurai." The man also pats his horse on the nose when he came up to him. "Let's get these clothes dried before we catch a cold." Imahana looks up at the sky and sees that it's starting to dark. They were far from the temple so she will be camping with the man probably. And the man reads her mind. "We're gonna camp under the trees tonight."

" _Yes!"_ Imahana silently jumped in circles for she loves camping.

The two get back on their horses and walk back to the entrance of the field. The man collects some firewood and prepares to set the fire.

"You should undress so we can dry your clothes." He sparks a flare and the wood lites in flames. He then blows on the fire to allow more oxygen to flow around the sparks and get the fire to burn faster.

"What?!" Imahana looked at him curiously and in surprise as he spoke out casually. "Why do you want me to undress? And in front of a man I just met?" She instinctively covers her already covered body as if she was already undressed. Her eyes widen when the man starts taking off his kimono. He didn't seem to worry if Imahana saw him naked.

"You wanna catch a cold?" He hangs his kimono on a branch and walks towards her exposed. She had no idea what to do when he stood in front of her. Where does she look? It's too embarrassing to stare at his naked body.

But; he has scars all over his body that she didn't notice before. Probably because he was fully covered. He was also very built. He had large arm and leg muscles, a six pack with a v-line and a visible collarbone. She doesn't know why but she wants to carve all these little detailed scars and feel all his strong muscles.

While she was in the trance from the man's body, the man has his chance to quickly untie her sash and belt and slip the kimono off her. He undressed her in the speed of light and Imahana barely moved from where she was standing.

"EEK!" Imahana screamed and covered her breasts with her arms. The man didn't even notice anything and just hung her kimono over the fire to dry. Then sits down calmly in front of the fire.

"You gonna just stand there or are you gonna get yourself warm?" His voice had no feeling to it at all as he spoke to her. But reluctantly, she walks up to the fire and sits with her knees pressed against her chest. Just a few feet from the man.

"Don't look at me." Imahana is a little angry about the kimono thing that if he was looking at her naked, she would just want to slap him. The man doesn't listen to her request and turns his head and stares at the side of her face.

"What did I just say!?" She shouts as she clenched her knees tighter to her chest. Imahana turns her head sharply and attempts to glare back at him as a warning, but widens her bright blue eyes when they catch the dull scarlet eyes. Then the man finally looked away from her eyes and back to the crackling fire.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The man asked Imahana in a quiet voice.

"Huh?" She keeps staring at him in curiosity, wondering what he means. "What do you mean? Have we met before?"

"When we were in the cherry blossom forest, when you found Hosuke, it reminded me of 15 years ago. When I first met you." He talked in a quiet voice, Imahana still able to hear it through the crackling of the fire in front of them.

"I can't remember much when I was a child. It's quite blurry to be truthful." She replied to him in the same volume.

He looks back at her with a blank expression but his scarlet orbs pleaded loudly.

"What's your name?"

"Kotaro." Kotaro says before looking at the ground. Imahana starts rummaging through her memories and her eyes widened when something in her lost memories became clear.

"I just remembered something." Before Kotaro could look up he felt some weight lean into his side and was tightened around his broad shoulders.

"I remember the first night you found me. I had a nightmare. And you said you can sleep with me. I didn't have another nightmare since than. But I have been getting dreams about someone. And that someone is you." Kotaro slowly wraps his arm around her body and slowly strokes her skin, causing her to shiver but relax. He then looks back at the two horses. White Samurai was laying in the tall grass and Oka was leaning against him; sleeping. Hosuke was also laying on Okas hip and kept his eyes closed as he slept on the horse. .

Kotaro looks down at Imahana and whispers, "That's my favorite memory too." And he gives her a light kiss on the top of her head. " _She fell asleep."_

"Happy Birthday, Imahana."


	4. Her Choices

Chapter 4- Her Choices

The next morning, Imahana found herself facing Kotaro's broad chest and embraced in his strong arms. She laid on top of him as he slept on the ground with a his over coat as a pillow. Imahana then notices that they both had their kimonos on!

" _He did not see me naked, did he?!"_ Imahana started feeling uneasy about Kotaro for some reason as she imagined all the things he would have done if she was naked.

"You're awake?" She heard a husky voice and looks up to see Kotaro; who seemed to have been awaken by the screaming in her head.

"Yeah. But," She looks down at how close they were to each other and felt her face burn red. And Kotaro just stares at her face with a blank expression

"It was cold out so I just kept you warm after the fire died out." He casually says.

"Did you put on my kimono?" He didn't answer her as he stared at her face. "Now that just embarrassing." Imahana mutters as she felt herself blush, making her bury her face in Kotaro's chest.

He lets out a little laugh and starts getting up. "Well the sun will be rising soon. So let's get you back to the temple."

"Hai." She replied cheerfully and calls for Oka. Both Oka and White Samurai trot back to them two and they mounted onto their backs.

By the time they got back, the sun has risen from the east and gave Imahana a warm feeling on the back of her neck. Imahana entered the garden with Kotaro following her and the sliding door opened, revealing the priest of the temple.

"Oh, Princess." Her grandfather looked at her with a surprised expression and she knew that it wasn't good. "I didn't expect you back so soon."

"Huh?" She was very confused. "What do you mean? Why did you call me Princess?"

"Seriously!" She then heard a loud voice behind them and spun around. "She remembers Kotaro but she doesn't remember me?!" The man sounded a little pissed when he saw Kotaro standing next to her. He was very tall. About six four. And he had long orangish hair with some bangs and a orange and green kimono on. Another man then walks up behind him and smacks him hard on the back of his head.

"Like she would even remember a dimwit like you." The man looked like he would be a little older than Kotaro. He had dark blue hair and dark violet eyes. And he wore a dark blue with purple kimono which showed his shoulders so some scars can be seen on his shoulders..

"I bet she'll remember me." Imahana was then grabbed by the shoulder and was pulled towards another man. He looked to be as tall as Kotaro, but looks way older than everyone. He had long red hair and wore a full body sleeveless bodysuit with a red and gold kimono that was wrapped around his waist. And on his left shoulder he had a swirled Aztec looking tattoo which was also a deep color of scarlet.

"Stop messing around." Kotaro spoke quietly but he had an annoyed tone in his deep voice.

"Aw come on Kotaro." The tall man pushes the man with red hair away from Imahana and hugged her tightly. "She's so cute!"

"You're too stupid to know anything. She has no sex appeal to her." The man with blue hair walks up to them and grabs her by the jaw, pulling her face towards his. Imahanas face was right in front of his and she starts feeling very flustered. She gets out of his grip and quickly hides behind Kotaro.

"It's alright Princess. They're just the other ninjas who protect you." Kotaro looks over his shoulder and explains in a calm voice.

" _Yeah. Mean ninjas"_ She thought to herself. " _Wait. What did Kotaro just say?"_

She peeks around Kotaro and observes the three other men in front of them. They do look like ninjas but why do they have to protect her? Seems like Kotaro read her mind.

"The head priest will explain that to you, Princess." He starts walking towards the front door and Imahana looks back at the other ninjas. One was glaring at her, another was smiled and winked at her, while the other looks at her with seductive eyes.

Turning her back towards them, she runs up the stairs and through the sliding door to get away from their uncomfortable stares.

"Grandfather!" Imahana runs up to the head priest's room door and quickly opens it. "Grandfather. May you please explain," She stopped mid sentence when she noticed another man in the room. " _Isn't that Hattori Hanzo from the neighboring village? What is he doing here?"_

"Oh! Hattori Hanzo!" She quickly bows deeply to him. "Sorry to interrupt something important. I'll be back later." She was about to leave the room until the head priest stopped her.

"No Princess." There it was again. Why are they calling her princess? She turns around and raises an eyebrow at him. "We were actually just talking about you."

"About me? Why?" He just simply pats the empty seat next to him and she hesitantly went over next to him, sitting down on her knees.

"Well," Hanzo starts speaking as she looks around in curiosity. "You become 21 today and we think it's time to tell you the truth about yourself."

"What do you mean the truth?" Imahana looked back at her grandfather for an explanation. He pauses before speaking again.

"You aren't my granddaughter. You are the Princess of the Reinaoka family. You are the only daughter. And your parents didn't die from a sickness. They were slaughtered by the Shibungi, and now they are trying to kill you."

"Someone is trying to kill me?!" Imahana panics and snaps her head back at Hanzo.

"Yes, the Shibungi. I believe you have heard about them when you were being educated. You have something that they don't and they want it to conquer the country. Maybe even the world."

" _This can't be happening!"_ She kept repeating to herself in her head. Her eyes started to water but she blinked hard and pulled them back.

"And the ninjas you met outside I believe, are the ninjas who have been protecting you ever since you were first found 15 years ago." Him mentioning the men she met outside made her look up at him in curiosity again.

"Yeah. And I'm the one who saved you!" She recognizes that voice. But before Imahana could look back she was embraced from behind. It only lasted a few seconds before the man released her. Then she looked back.

"That is such a lie." She sees the man with dark blue hair hold him by his neck when she looked back.

"This is Sasuke Sarutobi and Saizo Kirigakure." Hanzo introduces from his seat.

"Will I get a better intro than those two?" The man with red hair sat in the windowsill and had those same seductive eyes from earlier, still staring at Imahana causing her to become uncomfortable.

"This is Goemon Ishikawa from Iga." Hanzo introduces him the same way he introduced Sasuke and Saizo, making Goemon frown and glare at him.

"Well nice to meet you all but," Imahana starts getting up and walks backwards towards the sliding door. "I'm gonna need some time to get used to the fact that I'm now a Princess." Then turning around, she runs out of the temple and into the familiar forest surroundings. The others went to go after her but were stopped by the priest.

"She's right. She needs some time."

Imahana ran through the forest for what seemed like forever but she finally made it. Her favorite place to go. It's a cave that seems like it ends to nowhere in the end of the dark tunnel, there is a cave lake that glows in a fluorescent blue and was clear enough to show the bottom of the little lake. She sits on the edge of the rocks and slips her legs into the water.

She sighs deeply and looks down at the bottom. "Why didn't I know about my past?"

"Because you were young." She heard a deep voice and turns round to see Kotaro standing in the entrance of the opening. "You were only six years old and were asleep when it all happened. During the years, you have been living in the temple full of happiness and that's what made you forget all of that violence and those nightmares." He sits down next to Imahana and also slips his long legs into the water.

"But you have been around me for the last fifteen years. How come you never talked to me, or visited me? It was pretty lonely sometimes when I can't do anything with anyone." Imahana doesn't look up at him but down at her glowing feet. Wiggling her toes like the little worms on a fishing hook, waiting to be eaten for a bigger catch.

"We weren't allowed to until you were old enough." Kotaro stares at the side of Imahana's face as she continued to ignore his eyes.. "When I sleep, I dream about that night. Even after all this time. I still remember how we met, how Hosuke has the mind to bring us together, how you made me laugh, and how I slept with you when you had those nightmares." Imahana looks up at him when he mentions that he slept with her when she had nightmares. She remembers that night. And even though she was a kid, it still made her blush.

"But why does the Shibungi want me dead?"

"You have something that they don't."

"The only thing I remember having was my dagger. Or should I say my families dagger now." Imahana then pulls out the silver dagger with jewels on the handle and carvings on the blade. Kotaro outlines the carvings on the blade with his finger, as if reading it in a different language.

"You see these carvings. These carvings represent something, I just don't know what." Then he points at the jewels on the handle. "And these stones are very rare stones. This dagger had to be passed down from generations to get these stones."

"So it's this that they want?" She holds onto the handle and outlines the carvings on the steel blade. "Then why do they want to kill me?" She didn't understand. The dots were scattered so she couldn't connect them. If they just want the dagger then why go through the struggle to kill me?

"That I don't know myself." Kotaro places his hand on her shoulder and he could feel how she is shaking.

Things were going through her head that moment, lots of things. She starts remembering all those events of when she was a child and all her dreams that she had been having and how she actually forgot about who she really was. She feels stupid for how helpless she has been and how she forgot all of these important things in life. Kotaro still had his hand on her shoulder and he felt her begin to tremble harder.

"Hey, easy there. You okay?" She was shaking so hard that it seemed like the still water around her legs started vibrating. She just stared at the dagger that has been in her hands. Kotaro started worrying about her condition and shook her shoulders a little rougher. "Imahana. Imahana!" He shook her violently until she finally did any movement.

"They want to kill me." She looks up at Kotaro with narrowed eyes but Kotaro had his wide open with some surprise.

"Imahana! Let it go!" He kept telling her things and shaking her until she pushed him back and partially away from each other. She then stood up and stripped her kimono off, not even caring that Kotaro was watching. "What are you doing?!" Before Kotaro could get up and hold her back, she dives into the water. "Imahana!"

It has been half a minute and Imahana still didn't surface. Kotaro quickly undressed and also dives into the water. He didn't expect the water to be very deep but the caves pond was deeper than it looked. He surfaced up to breathe and dives back down again. Swimming to the bottom of the pond, he spots Imahana and she seemed to be unconscious because her eyes were closed and no bubbles were leaving her nose or mouth. Kotaro wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her close. He smacks her cheek a few times and shakes her head. She still didn't show any signs of waking up, so he pulls her face towards his and locks both of their lips together. He breathes in some air into her lungs and pulls away. Imahanas eyes flicker open and she blankly stares at him. Still in his arms, Kotaro swims up to the surface and they both gasp for air.

"You're crazy."

Imahana doesn't reply as she continues to cough.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I don't want to be apart of any of this."

"You mean Princess?"

"Anything! I don't want to be killed!" She pushes Kotaro away from her and just floats in the glowing water.

"Well that's why you have to pick one of us to protect you." Her eyes widened. "What? Didn't they tell you?"

"No."

"Well you are supposed to choose between Goemon, Sasuke, Saizo, and I. Who would it be?" Kotaro asks as he swims closer to her. Once he was close enough, Imahana jumps onto him and they both sink into the glowing water again before raising to the surface.

"I want you to protect me."

"I will protect you with my life."

Kotaro cups her face in his hands and inches closer to her. Imahana started feeling herself blush and averted her eyes elsewhere.

"Look at me." She looks back at his dull eyes. "I will protect you with my own life. And I will promise that. Got it?" His eyes looked down at her lips.

"Okay." Her eyes also went down to his lips.

Imahana feels Kotaro's breathe on her lips and he takes her breathe away.


	5. Training

**Authors Note: Hey, sorry if the chapter's seem short to you. I'm still new to writing so they will be short and bad. Well, please enjoy and thank you for reading.**

After the events that happened between Kotaro and Imahana they went back to the temple and told Hanzo that Kotaro was chosen to protect the Princess. Hanzo also agrees with the choice. She has to go through training with Kotaro because he will be doing missions. It will take a week or two to get to the Gingen Village from the Izumi Village. And during the time between, Kotaro will be sent to different villages for different missions. And Imahana will have to go with him everywhere unless she is in a safe position. And that is why she has to do some training with Kotaro so she can protect herself when needed. She will be trained to use shurikens, bow and arrow, dagger, matchlock, katanas, dual swords, and ninjutsu. Lets hope she can keep up.

"Ow." Today was the second day they had started training, and she started with the basics; tree climbing. It was her third attempt to climb up a redwood tree, but she would fall to the ground by the time she got to the first stable branch; which was twenty feet in the air. Kotaro says she has to jump and swing herself to the middle of the branch so she can easily pull herself up. She is a good tree climber but only to small trees like oaks, pines, and blossoms. Kotaro walks up to her and helps her up.

"You go tense when you swing which makes you let go of the branch. Try again." Easier said than done.

Imahana got up to her feet again and climbed the tree again. She didn't try to complain, because it will make her look weak and a quitter, so she stayed quiet. She got to spot where she usually falls from and took a deep breath. She focused to the branch and jumped! She closed her eye and when she felt herself hanging she looked up and saw that she had a good grip of the tree.

"Okay Princess! Now pull yourself up onto the branch and walk to the trunk!"

Kotaro explained to Imahana what she had to do and she did as she was told. Pulling herself up was difficult for Imahana because of not having much arm strength, but when she managed to get up and swung her leg over straddling on the branch. She pushed herself up and balanced on the three inches of diameter under her feet. Carefully placing one foot in front of the other she managed to get to the trunk of the tree and relaxed against it. Looking down at the ground she panicked and hugged the tree. The branch wobbled under her and she looked out. Kotaro walks up to her with no problem at all. He stops in front of her and leans in towards her. He gives her a light kiss on the lips and pats her head.

"Great job." He also gives her a little smile. She was heating up from one little tiny kiss. "Are you already that tired?" Kotaro leans in closer making his forehead touch hers. Her cheeks grew bright pink and her pupils dilated.

" _Oh my gosh! He's too close!"_ She couldn't say anything because she had a lump in her throat.

"Hm. Your temperature seems to be rising but you're not sweating." He didn't move.

"Um." Imahana wanted to get out of that position and go back to training, but it didn't look like Kotaro was going to move out of the way anytime soon.

"Let's take a break." He finally moves away from my face and jumps down from the tree.

"Okay." Before Imahana was about climb down the tree, Kotaro yells out to her.

"Now to jump down and land perfectly silent, you must jump down and land on the balls of your feet. Once you do that, crouch down so you don't fall flat footed."

"I thought we were gonna take a break!"

"We are. Once you learn how to jump down from a tree." He makes a slight smile.

" _Is he being serious right now?"_ She thought she saw a little sarcasm in that smile. "Okay." Imahana took a deep breath and felt her feet glid downwards. After a second, she was about to hit the ground and felt loads of pressure go into the balls of her feet. Then remembering the next step, she quickly crouched down staying on her toes.

"You've got jumping down, but you still need to work with the climbing. Got it?" He walks up close to her and stares into her eyes.

"Got it."

Kotaro and Imahana walked for a while until they reached a spring.

"We can rest here."

"Okay. I really need some rest from the training." Imahana pulls her head back to stretch her neck, then looks at the corner of her eye. "What are you doing!?" She covers her eyes. Kotaro starts undressing right in front of her.

"Well, I'm gonna take a bath." He walks to the water's edge and dives in.

After hearing the splash, Imahana removed her hands from her face and looked towards the water. A little later she noticed bubble surfacing and saw Kotaro jump out of the water. His hair pushed back, eyelashes fluttering, his muscular body and scars covered and dripping with water. He was going in slow motion in her eyes and couldn't detach them from him. Kotaro walks to a shallow area up to his torso and notices Imahana staring at him. He turns his face to her and lock eyes, making her blush.

"Why are you staring at me?" One of his eyebrows goes up.

"Uh. No reason!" She still wasn't able to remove the unbreakable eye contact. She felt her cheek burning up and covered them with her hands, while still looking at Kotaro.

"Why are you blushing?" He starts walking towards her.

"Stop! Stay right there!" He stops.

"You've seen me naked before."

"Don't bring it up!"

"Okay."

"Thank you." She lets out a breath of relief.

"Are you gonna take a bath or what?" She looks up and has contact with Kotaro's face again. Except this time; 20 feet closer.

"I thought I told you to stay there!"

"But I didn't promise to stay there." Saying this while forming a smirk on his face.

"I've only known Goemon for five minutes and I can already tell that you've got some tips from him." That made him frown. "And everyone say that you are usually quiet and very private. You talk a lot when you are around me."

"And we've only been together for the last fifteen years, that changed me a lot."

"I bet." Saying sarcastically. " _And I've just met you four days ago."_ She's still pretty mad at the part where they have been protecting her from the distance and not from up close.

"Yeah. Once at a banquet Sasuke talked about you and how pretty you were. Saizo got sarcastic on him and made fun of you."

"Hey!"

"Then I came in the conversation and started talking about you for a whole hour nonstop. They say I only talk a lot about you. Never about anything else."

"That's...wow."

"And Goemon called you flat chested."

"I would agree with him. My body didn't really develop over the years." She looks down at herself and sighs. "For twenty-one, I look like a kid."

"I think you developed fine." Saying this made Imahana look up at Kotaro. "You do sometimes act like a kid but you don't look like one."

"That's in your opinion."

"No. No not really. Sasuke say you have some appeal to you yourself."

" _Great."_ She thought to herself sarcastically.

"So are we going to take a bath together?" He leans down to the same level of Imahanas short height. He's about six-one and Imahana is five-six; eight inch difference.

"In your dreams." She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"Okay." He shrugged his shoulders and without any warning, kissed Imahana deeply.

He pushed his tongue into her mouth and rubbed it against hers. She felt like she was melting in his arms with this pleasure. She did use her tongue a little but felt embarrassed to do it. She felt hot all over her body but felt Kotaro's cool hands running down her arms. She started feeling a little chilly. When Kotaro finally let go of her, he looks at her from head to toe and smiles.

"No, you do look like you're twenty-one."

"Huh?" She looks down and sees herself naked. She lets out a little squeak and quickly covers her bare chest with her arms. "Don't look!"

"You said that last time and what happened?"

"Fine, I'll take the bath with you. But no funny buisness!"

"Like I would." Sarcasm. He turns around and starts walking back to the water. Imahana follows him into the water and feels the warm water surround her body.

"Wow. It's warm." She runs her hands under the water and creates little surface waves. Kotaro didn't answer her so she looks back where he was standing but didn't see any sign of him. "Kotaro?" She looks around and starts panicking. "Kotaro! Kotaro!" She was walking into the deeper part of the river and was pulled down under.

She swallowed some water when she was being pulled down, making her cough underwater. Which was making her swallow more water. She struggled to get out of the arms of someone, the person pulling her down. A hand covered her mouth and she felt the person bite her earlobe.

" _Wait."_ She finally understood who it was. " _Oh Kotaro's gonna get it!"_ She turns her head to glare at him but looks into serious eyes. Kotaro removes his hand from her mouth a kisses her. They shared some air and also stayed under a little longer.

"You're unbelievable." They surface to the top and Imahana was the first to talk. "I would have never thought that you would do that."

"Well….." Kotaro started turning red and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Goemon did give me some tips…."

"I knew it!" She smacked the top of the water making it rain on them. "What did he tell you? Did he tell you to drag me underwater?"

"No, I did that myself." He looked serious but he was blushing really hard. Imahana just stared at him.

"Are you trying to kill me!" Imahana splashed water into Kotaro's face making him flinch.

"No."

"Then why did you do that?"

"First, I thought it would be funny."

"That was not funny at all!"

"Second, I thought it would be easier to kiss you." He slowly swims closer to her.

"Huh?"

Before she can say anything else, Kotaro pulled her in and forced a kiss. They let go a few seconds later and eyed each other. Imahana closed her eyes and they kissed again, but more lightly this time. They kissed each other for a while until they had to get out and go back into tree climbing.


	6. Yasu Village

Chapter 6: Yasu Village

A day later, they made it to Yasu Village.

Imahana and Kotaro walked around in the tiny village and noticed that something was off. They had passed many homes but it looked like no one's lived there for some time. And they also noticed a few samurais walking around in the village. Good thing they changed their names. Kotaro changed his name to Takayoshi and Imahana changed her's to Suki. Well, that's what she wanted. Kotaro wanted her to be named Tami but she wasn't really fond of the name, so she changed it to Suki.

"Hey!" One of the samurais noticed Kotaro and Imahana and it seemed like they never seen them in this village before. "Who are you two?"

"Let me do the talking and just stay behind me." He whispers to the Princess before speaking up to the samurais.

"My name is Takayoshi," Kotaro or 'Takayoshi' turned to the samurai and bows respectfully. "And this is my wife, Suki. We go from village to village to sell some medical herbs."

The medical herbs seller was Kotaro's idea and the wife thing; lets just say Imahana didn't want to be his little sister. Because they were already a couple and if they had to kiss each other as a distraction, then it would be weird if it was his little sister.

 _She's got a point there._ Kotaro thought to himself after the explanation.

"What kind of medical herbs are you selling?" Another samurai walks up beside him and looks at the shoulder bag that Imahana was carrying. Kotaro turned to Imahana and nodded. She 'tried' to casually open the bag and took out a few other small packages. Her hands were trembling a little.

"Relax." Kotaro whispers. He then showed the packets to the samurais. They looked closely at the dried and live plants and gave him a confused face.

"What kind of plants are these?" One asks bluntly.

Imahana knew her plants so she explained to them what they were and what they do. And she's the one who picked them.

"This is a 'hyssop' flower. It is famous for soothing headaches, fighting nausea, calming the stomach and reducing nervousness and fatigue. And is a fairly effective antiviral, making it useful for fighting colds and the flu. And this plant right here is 'sage'. Sage aids digestion, relieves cramps, reduces diarrhea, dries up phlegm, fights colds, reduces inflammation and swelling, acts as a salve for cuts and burns, and kills bacteria. Sage apparently even brings color back to gray hair. And this berry is the wild 'blackberry'. The leaves and root can be used as an effective treatment against dysentery and diarrhea as well as serving usefulness as an anti-inflammatory and astringent. Ideal for treating cuts and inflammation in the mouth. And is a tasty treat on the road. And this red one is 'red clover'. The plant's reddish pink blossoms can be used for coughs and colds, but they are an excellent detoxifier and blood cleanser as well. And lastly this purple flower is the 'sweet violet'. It is hard to find in the wild but you will know when you find it because it has this beautiful purple color to its petals. When brewed into a syrup the plant is effective as a treatment for colds, flu and coughs or sore throat. However, when made as a tea, it is wonderfully effective for relieving headaches and muscle and body pain. We also have some other ones but I think I explained enough already." Imahana just smiled when she finished speaking while the three men stared at her blankly.

"Not only does she have the looks but she has the brains too." One of the samurais leans into the others ear and whispers. "Maybe the Shibungi leader will enjoy having that at the banquet."

"I heard that." Kotaro butts in and says flatly.

"So where will you be staying pretty?" Imahanas smile faded when his face got close to hers and she hides behind Kotaro.

"We don't know yet." Kotaro answers Imahanas questions for her, each word was flat.

 _Stop answering them Kotaro!_ She didn't want to be there anymore. The two samurai's stare at Kotaro and he reflects a motionless frown.

"Well we know someone who can give a place to live until you leave." He turns around and walks in the direction of the headmans house. "Follow us."

"Why are they being nice to us?" Kotaro and her started following them and she asks him.

"Their not nice, they are just doing it to mess with us. He said something about a banquet with the Shibungi. The leader is a ladies man. Whether you wanted to or not, you are forced to sleep him." He replied her quietly. Then he looks at her. "How did you know so much about the herbs that we picked?"

She smiles. "I'm always out, mine as well learn nature while you camp out a lot."

"Huh." Then adds sarcastically. "I married a smart woman." Saying while giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey. Not in public!" Imahanas cheeks reddened and she covered them.

They finally arrived at little village home. One of the men pound on the door and yell, "Hey Chiyo! Open up!" After a few seconds a girl, about thirteen, opened the door slowly like she was afraid of them. She had her hair down and pushed to the right side of her face. It covered her eye, neck, and shoulder.

"Yes?" She spoke in a quiet voice.

"I need you to take these two to one of the unused houses." He spoke in a loud tone and seemed to be scaring her because she looked like she wanted to shrink down and run from them.

"Okay." She nodded and tried walking past him but he grabs her by the neck and you can see her tense up. He leans into her ear and whispers.

"Don't try what you did last time. Or the punishment will be worse." He throws her to the ground and the two samurais walk away, leaving Imahana and Kotaro with Chiyo. She finally stood up and lightly bowed to the two.

"Are you alright?" Imahana asks with furrowed brows.

"It's okay. They aren't as bad as you think." She gives them a weak smile and dismisses the question. "So this way is where the house is." Chiyo starts walking and they follow her.

"Um Chiyo, are you sure you're okay?" Imahana was worried how she doesn't think that wasn't bad.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She again gives her a smile with only half of her lip. Imahana looks back at Kotaro and shakes her head. "Here we are." Chiyo walks up to the village home and opens the sliding door.

It was a comfy little house. It had all the furniture and was a little ways from the village. Imahana walked around the room and slides her hand on the walls.

"It's a beautiful home. Who lived here?" She looks back at Chiyo and sees her look down at the ground.

"It was my old house before they killed my family. They only kept me alive because I was useful for certain jobs."

"But you're still so young."

"Haha. Not really. I might look young but I'm actually sixteen. My family is just short." A real smile. But it was tense just talking about it.

"Well Chiyo, while were here would you like to have some tea with me?" Imahana asks as she feels to relax the tension that has been following them around with some green.

"I don't know,"

"It'll be fine." She gives the girl a smile. "By the way, I'm Suki and this is my husband, Takayoshi. We sell medical herbs. And we want to stay here for a while."

"Nice to meet you. Not much people come by this village anymore because of the Shibungi taking over." Imahana looks back at Kotaro as he gives her a nod and goes into a separate room, closing the door behind him. "So you two sell herbs?"

"Yes, for medical reasons or just for a new taste." She walks into the kitchen and gets some hot water for some mint tea that she has learned to prepare from a servant at the temple.

"Then do you have something for this?" Imahana turns back and drops the cup that was in her hands, making it shatter all over the floor. Kotaro heard the racket and runs into the kitchen.

"What happened?!" He looks towards Chiyo and gasps. A tough atmosphere surrounding them again.

The right side of Chiyo's face had been bruised and cut from being beaten by the soldiers they saw earlier. Her neck was also bruised down to her shoulder, then it looked like her shoulder was whipped many times by the visible scars and marks.

"You know, maybe I shouldn't bother you." Chiyo covers her face with her hair again and turned to leave; but before she could, Imahana caught her by the wrist and stopped her from leaving.

"I think I can help you with that." She made her sit down and asked Kotaro to get her some towels, water, and the herb bag.

Imahana starts washing away the dried blood and infected areas on the face, then she crushes and makes the ' _arnica_ ' plant into an oil. She pours it on Chiyo's face and lets it soak into the pores of the skin. Then taking another wet towel covers the right side of her face. Imahana pours some water onto a hops or ' _Humulus lupulus'_ plant and has her drink it. Chiyo begins fluttering her eyes closed, lying down on her side. Imahana loosened her kimono and pulled down the sleeve exposing her scared shoulder. Looking through the bag, she found some of that sage for the cuts and the red clover for the pain. Also mixing them into an oil and massaging it all over her shoulder, then placing a hot towel on the shoulder and neck. She sighs in relief and finally notices Kotaro right next to her.

"That's amazing." He says in awe as he looks down at the work his "wife" did.

"It's nothing. Just trying to help." She smiles a weak, tired smile before looking out the window to see that it was late in the night.

"You're probably exhausted." He places his hand on her head and looks at her worryingly.

"A little but I'm fine." She stood up before a feeling of lightheadedness hit her, causing her to fall forwards into Kotaro's arms. "Maybe you're right."

"Here," He picks her up in a cradle and goes into the master bedroom. "Get some sleep. I'll stay up and clean up here." Then gives her a kiss on the forehead.

She wasn't able to say anything else as she immediately fell asleep when her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Imahana woke up in the arms of Kotaro. They were spooning. She quickly tries to get out of his grip but he just tightening his arms around her waist.

"Don't move." He whispers in her ear. Already awake.

"But I need to check on Chiyo."

"She is knocked out as a rock. She won't be waking up soon." He opens one eye and also curls up one side of his mouth.

"But still, I need to check the wounds."

"I changed the towels before I went to sleep. She's healing very well."

"Can I at least make breakfast?" She protests once again.

"Do you really want the pass to get out of bed?" She nods. "Fine." He frowns and lets her go.

"Thank, eek!" She just barely stood up until Kotaro pushes her down to the ground. "Hey! Kotaro."

"I lied." A sly smirk appeared on his lips as he hovered above Imahana, knowing that she was getting goosebumps.

 _He scares me sometimes with that smirk._ She thought.

"I'm not kidding about," Imahana was interrupted by a deep kiss that was given from Kotaro to make her stop protesting.

"What are you not kidding about?" He teases when they part.

"I don't want to," Again, she was interrupted by his kiss. "Hah!" He was taking her breath away. Literally.

"What don't you want to do?" And again he teases her.

"Stop it!" She started to get annoyed with his attitude and pushes him off her. "I need to make breakfast, _Takayoshi._ " She says the name with empathy and sarcasm, then walks out of the room. Kotaro smiles and shakes his head, following after her.

Imahana takes off the towels from Chiyo's shoulder and observes the healing wounds. The scars on her shoulder were fading away, the bruising on the neck and her face was now barely noticeable, and the cuts were closing up. She smiles while placing a hand on the girl's cheek.

"You really have an incredible ability to help people." Kotaro was leaning against the wall and look down at the sleeping girl.

"It's just how I was raised." Saying while looking up at Kotaro. "I cared about the people at the temple. They were like family to me. But I never knew I would be separated from them." Tears started forming in the corners Imahana's eyes. Kotaro furrows his brows before walking up to her and giving her a gentle embrace.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." He says in a quiet voice as he nuzzled his face into her dark brown hair.

"You two are so cute." The extra voice startled them both. "Oh, sorry. Did I ruin the moment?" Kotaro and Imahana look back at Chiyo, who was rubbing her eyes like she has just woke up. Imahana gets out of Kotaro's embrace and covers her red face, while walking towards her.

"How do you feel?" She asks Chiyo.

"I feel a lot better." Chiyo stretches out her arms and rolls her shoulders.

"Great! And it looks like your wounds are healing well."

"Thank you so much Suki!" She jumps up and gives Imahana a big hug.

"Just take it easy for a while. Your muscles are still gonna be sore at that."

"Okay." Then she left with a bow.

It was silent for a moment until Imahans footsteps trailed into the kitchen.

"What would you like for breakfast, _Takayoshi_?"

"Just whatever you're making, _Suki_."


	7. I Promise

"I still don't understand."

"Ugh!" Cho and Sasuke were walking behind the group of ninjas, talking about the relationship between her and Hanzo. But apparently, he didn't understand any of it.

"You never held a grudge on Hanzo but you always held a grudge on his father?" He asks her. AGAIN.

"Yes! It's a fallacy!" She shouts as her hands wave in the air in frustration. "Do you get it now?"

He thinks for a moment before replying blankly. "No."

"What's wrong with your head boy?" Goemon matches the pace of the two in the back of the group and frowns at Sasuke. Clearly annoyed at repeatedly hearing the same story over and over again.

"Nothing's wrong with my head." He pokes his forehead with his pointer finger and sticks out his tongue at Goemon.

"Well something has to be wrong with your head if you can't understand the long relationship between the two."

"It's a very simple timeline." Cho starts the story again. "We were friends since we were kids and we went to the same training schools and dojos. But after what happened with his father, I was sent to prison for the rest of my life but Hanzo always visited me until he stopped one day because of his _father._ And now after, I don't know how many years, I go on a mission with you people and am with my lover."

"Get it now?" Goemon and Cho stare at him intensely.

"Sorta..." His answer causes them to both frown again.

"Good enough." Hanzo was in the front and was also hearing the whole conversation between them. He was as equally frustrated with Sasuke.

"You know what, Goemon?" Sasuke looks down at Goemon as he continues to look straight ahead.

"What?"

"Why were you and Kotaro talking about Imahana before they left?" Goemon looks back at him with one of those 'you do not want to know' evil smiles and a nervous frown appears on Sasuke's lips. "Never mind."

"Probably to give him tips on seducing her." Cho says as she glares at Goemon.

"Well how did you know?" Sarcasm freely flows out of his mouth as he laughed about it.

"I told you not to lay a finger on her!" Saizo finally moves in and yells back at him.

"Relax. I'm not the one who asked me about girls."

"That doesn't sound like Kotaro." Sasuke looks down at the ground, making Saizo roll his eyes.

"You're so stupid sometimes." He mutters under his breath.

"Hey! Why am I stupid?!"

"You never understood Kotaro since he first met Imahana."

"Well probably because he always keeps quiet." Sasuke argues.

"But we all see how he talks and acts around Imahana." Saizo had his eyes on Sasuke while walking backwards; completely aware of his surroundings.

"He's in _LOVE_." Cho says the word 'love' with enthusiasm and projects it, making Hanzo look back at her in curiosity. "What? Can't you see it?" She asks him.

"Woman can see this easily. Men; no." Hanzo shakes his head.

"You're so thick-headed." The three men say in a unison.

"I'm thick-headed?!" Hanzo turns around and points at them. "You're the ones that don't have a lover."

Then they look at Cho who was in the middle of the entire group. Clueless of why they were staring at her.

"What? Why are you all looking at me?"

 **~*~ I Fear Myself ~*~**

Imahana was in the forest picking some herbs that she knew she would find useful while in the Yasu village. She and Kotaro have been selling herbs since Chiyo told the villagers about them. She made teas, senses, and essential oils. She also helped cook for a few villager elders. Everyone in the village love having her around. Speaking of around; Kotaro has barely been around because this village is where he has to get information of the Shibungi leader. Imahana has been helping him with this mission by getting some information from some of the villagers. Seems like their more violent than she had even suspected.

"SUKI!" Her thoughts were interrupted by Chiyo, who was running down the path towards her. She jumps onto Imahana making her fall onto the ground.

"Hey Chiyo." She sits up and hugs Chiyo back. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you!" She raises her voice before she covers her mouth with her hand. "Sorry, I'm just loud today." She speaks a little quieter.

"Looking for me?" Imahana gives her a curious look while standing up. "Why?"

"The leader from the Shibungi Village are coming here and I just wanted to give you a heads up if you start hearing an uproar in the streets tomorrow." She leans into her. "He's pretty scary looking. Seen him once when before he left the village for a few days. "

 _I bet_. She thought.

"Okay. But first I need to get these plants washed and dried. Would you like to help?" Imahana starts picking up the herbs and plants and Chiyo helped her.

"Sure!"

The two begin to lay the herbs on the dry creekbed and let the sun soak the up before it went down and Imahana went home to make dinner for Kotaro.

Once Chiyo left the home, Kotaro got back and they both sat down to eat dinner.

"Did you hear the news from Chiyo?" Kotaro starts speaking after a long silence.

"Yeah, that the Shibungi leader is coming here." She looks up at him with no surprise.

"And also something else." He sips on his tea while Imahana looks up at him in confusion.

"What's that?"

"Hanzo and the others are coming here the day the Shibungi come."

"Which is tomorrow." She says in a quiet voice and both Kotaro and Imahana stare at each other.

"screech" Hosuke flies into the room from the open window and lands into the middle of the table.

"Oh." Imahana extended her hand and he hops onto it. "Hey Hosuke. Hanzo send us a letter?"

"screech" She slowly takes the roll of paper off of the hawks leg and passes it over to Kotaro.

"Seems like they spotted the Shibungi on the way here." He read the letter.

"What are they going to do?" Imahana pets the hawk who was still on her finger.

"Sounds like they are going to attempt an assassination." Then he opens his eyes widely. "The person who will be assassinating him will be Berubetto Cho?!"

"Who's she?" Imahana had a confused face on. She didn't know who the person is.

"Berubetto Cho is an assassin who attempted to assassinate Hanzo's father because she killed her brother. And she has the power to see the future." He explains but still looked over the letter once again.

"Seriously?!" Imahana let out her surprise voice and spooks the bird, but it still rested on Imahana's fingers.

"Yeah." He gives her a short answer as he continued to stare at the words on the letter. She notices him put on a frown as he clenched the paper tightly.

"What's wrong?" Imahana asks.

"Nothing." He shuts his eyes and crumpled up the letter. "I'm going to bed." Kotaro stood up and walked to the bedroom. Imahana quickly put away the food and dishes and when into the room Kotaro was in.

"Kotaro?" She walks into the room and sees Kotaro laying in the middle of the room on the futon, but she knew he wasn't sleeping. She walks up to him and sits down over his pillow. "Are you okay?" He doesn't answer. "You know if something is bothering you, you can talk to me." He stayed silent again. "What did Cho do to you?" He rolls to lay on his back and looks up at Imahana.

"How would you help?" He says coldly, making Imahana drop her mouth open in surprise. He has never talked to her like that. Something really must have bothered him.

"I want to help in any way possible." Imahana averts her eyes and bites the inside of her cheek.

"Well you can't help me in anyway." Kotaro keeps looking up at her and doesn't change the way he spoke to her.

"Why?" She asks quietly.

He shuts his eyes like he's remembering something that happened. "The past is the past."

"But even if it was way back, I want to help you!" She started getting annoyed with his attitude. "Even if you just talk to me." He stares at her. "Please."

Kotaro stood up and walks out of the room. He then walks to the front door but was being pulled back by Imahana.

"Where are you going this late in the night?"

"Going for a walk." He shook off his arm from Imahana's grip and walks out of the house. Imahana stood in the doorway watching Kotaro walk into the nearby forest. She watched him until he disappeared then she ran after him.

"Kotaro!" She ran up behind him and he looks back at her grimly. She was taken aback when he did that.

"Just leave me alone." He walks away again.

"What's wrong with you?!" She raises her voice at him. "I'm trying to help you even if it's just a little! What's up with you and Cho anyways?!" He stops and Imahana can see his hands in tight fists. It was silent for a second, then the next, Kotaro pushes Imahana onto a tree. Holding her there by the shoulders.

"DON'T EVER SAY HER NAME AGAIN!" He shouts roughly at her, causing Imahana to become scared. He hasn't ever been like this towards her. EVER.

"Why?" She asks quietly.

"Because I just don't want to get involved with her again! She ruined my life and that's it!" He had a furious expression with fire in his eyes. "And there is no way you can help me with what has happened in the past." Imahana's eyes begin to well up and tears fell down her face.

"I just wanted to help." She looks down at the ground and watches her tears drop.

"Well you can't." When he let go of her shoulders, she pushed him back with all her might.

"I was raised to help others! I don't care what the situation was, I want to help!" Tears were rapidly coming down her face and her eyes were starting to swell red.

"Like I told you; you," Before he could finish his sentence, Imahana slaps him on the cheek leaving his left cheek red. He was surprised with her gesture and rubbed his cheek as he stared down at her with wide eyes.

"Stop repeating that! I know I could help you in some way, you are just rejecting it!" She starts walking away but then stops. "You can sleep outside tonight." She tells him without looking back to see his reaction before walking away again.

When she got back to the house she ran into her room and cried for what seemed to be hours, but were only minutes. She then tried to go to sleep, but something was keeping her awake. A little past midnight, she heard the front door open and close. Then she heard light footsteps coming towards the door to her room. Then there was a light knock.

"Are you awake?" She heard Kotaro's voice.

"Leave me alone." She was mad at him for being such a bastard earlier. But he didn't leave her alone, he just walked into the room and stood at the doorway. "I thought I told you to leave me alone. I'm not ready to talk to you." She keeps her back to him but she could hear every move that he makes.

"Are you gonna be stubborn with me right now?" He asks. But she doesn't answer. So he walks up behind her and sits down on his knees. "Could you answer me." Imahana sits and glares at him.

"You want me to answer your questions but you won't answer mine. How is that fair?" Then she stood up and walks out of the room.

"Imahana!" Kotaro also stood up and catches her by the wrist. "I'm sorry!" She doesn't look back at him. "Answer me!"

"Why should I?!" Imahana turns around frowning. But Kotaro stayed quiet. "Exactly. Now leave me alone." She lets loose her hand and took a few steps away from him until she was embraced from behind.

"I'm sorry! Why can't you see that I'm sorry for what I did damnit!" Kotaro rested his face on Imahana's neck and let a few tears escape from his eyes and fall down her neck.

 _Is he crying?_ Imahana asks herself as she felt the tear glide down her neck before getting absorbed by the collar of her kimono.

"I know that there is nothing you could do but could you at least be with me?"

"What?"

"I was afraid that you were gonna leave me because I hurt you." Imahana heard the sniffling from him crying and looked back at him.

"I wasn't thinking of leaving you. I was just mad at you for not letting me help you. I could finally understand that I can't help you, but really, I would never leave you. No fight between us could rip us apart." She turns around and looks at Kotaro's face. His eyes were turning red from crying and she saw streaks of tears running down his cheeks.

"You promise?" He places his forehead onto hers and looks her in the eyes.

"I promise." She sees him sigh in relief. "You know, I should be asking for the promise instead of you." Imahana giggles.

"Wanna try again?" She nods then takes a deep breath.

"Kotaro," She starts the script again.

"Yeah?"

"Do you promise not to leave me?"

"I promise." Then he plants a sweet kiss on her lips. "I love you." He whispers to her sweetly.

"I love you too." She replies to him.

They kiss again, but longer than last time. Kotaro picks up Imahana in a cradle and lays her down onto the futon again. He kisses her deeper and slips his tongue into her mouth. He plays with her tongue as she begins to let out some moans. Kotaro lets go of her lips but he slides his tongue out of her mouth and glides it down her neck and collarbone. Taking his hand, he lets loose the upper part of the kimono so it exposes her chest.

"Eek!" Imahana quickly covers herself with her hands.

"Hey, don't be so self conscious." He smirks at her and guides his hands to her sash.

"It's embarrassing!" She paid no attention to where his hands were going and then next thing she knew, her hands were tied together. "What the?!"

"Well you better get used to it." He opens up her kimono all the way and resumes to what he was just doing.

Kotaro licks Imahana's neck again and sucks his lips onto it. Imahana let out moans and he sucked on her neck harder making her moan louder. He takes his lips off of her neck and traces the hickey he has made on her.

"Now people will know that you're mine." He gives her a kiss on the lips then moves down to the collarbone.

Imahana couldn't cover herself because her hands were tied together with the sash from her kimono, making her helpless. Kotaro had one hand on her stomach while the other was in the valley between her breasts. He licked his way down to one of her breasts and started sucking on the right nipple. Moans started filling the room again and the contact made her arch her back.

"Kotaro..." She could barely say his name with the moans escaping her.

"Keep saying my name. It sounds good." He says seductively and wickedly smiles. Then goes back to sucking on her breasts.

"Ahh... Kotaro..." She kept repeating his name until he covers her lips with his. He then quickly undresses from his kimono but not his pants, making him half naked. He kissed Imahana again and pulls her up.

While still kissing Imahana, Kotaro held her with one arm around her back and the other hand holding her by the neck. Pushing her face harder onto his for the VERY deep kisses. The arm that was holding her on the back slide inside the kimono that was still hanging on her shoulders. His fingers ran up and down her back, then down near her butt. Kotaro then slides his hand lightly down to her thigh and moves into her inner thigh. He felt Imahana shudder when he touched her down there. He felt it completely wet as her juices came down her thighs. Then Kotaro began rubbing her thigh and moved his hand upwards.

"Stop it." Imahana was finally able to escape his lips for some air. But Kotaro had a perverted grin on his face.

"How would you feel if I touched you there?" He slowly moved his hand higher until he touched her where Imahana never knew she would ever be touched.

"Ahh.." She lets a little moan leave her lips as she jerks her head to the side.

"Oh so that's what happens." He comments as he continues rubbing.

"Ahh! Stop...It..." She looks at Kotaro with pleading eyes but then jerks her head back when his fingers pinch her clit. She felt his fingers leave her and looks back at him.

"Open your mouth." She looks at him a little confused, but reluctantly does. She then felt his pointer finger rub against her tongue, but then tasted something warm and wet. "Suck on my finger." She did as she was told and sucked on it. He finally slipped his finger out of her mouth and placed it on her breast.

"What did I just taste?" Imahana had a funny face on when she sucked on Kotaro's finger and asked him what she just swallowed.

"You because you're very wet, that's all."

She couldn't believe that she just tasted herself! Kotaro read her thoughts.

"If you didn't like how you tasted, then maybe I will."

He lies her back down and licks his way down her body. When he reached her wet area, he licked her folds and clit multiple times. Imahana kept letting out moans of pleasure and arched her back more and more, making her spine go numb. She felt lightheaded from so many waves of this new pleasure, she couldn't take it anymore. Kotaro enjoyed his view before sticking his tongue on her and pumped his tongue till he heard Imahana screamed out his name. Imahana's mind went blank as she came for the first time, and Kotaro slurping up her juices in pleasure.

"I'm not going to go far with you tonight. Okay?" She could barely nod from exhaustion. He gives her a light kiss on the lips and gets off of her.

Imahana looks down at her tied hands. Kotaro only smiles as he unties the sash and throws it a small distance away from them.

"Thank you." Imahana rubs her wrists and sits up. "What a night." Then yawns.

"Ready for bed?" Kotaro runs his hand through her hair.

"Yes." She nodded tiredly.

"C'here." He lightly wraps his arms around his lover and they fall onto the pillow.

"Kotaro." Imahana looks up at Kotaro.

"Hm?" He looks down at her.

"I love you." She kisses him.

"I love you too." Then he kisses her on the forehead.


	8. The Assassination In Yasu

Chapter 8: The Assassination In Yasu

Imahana woke up next morning in bed alone.

 _Kotaro must have woken up early._ Imahana got out of the futon and fixed her kimono. As she did, she notices her wrists were still red from last night. She remembers last night as she closed her eyes.

"Oh gosh that's embarrassing." She says to herself in a quiet voice. She started feeling her cheeks glow red, but her thought were interrupted by Kotaro.

"Imahana?" He opens the door and pokes his head in. He sees Imahana holding out her hands and looking at her wrists.

"Uh…" She quickly hides her hands behind her back. "What do you need?"

"I saw that." He walks towards Imahana and pulls out one of her hands.

"They don't hurt!" She says quickly so he won't get the wrong idea. He doesn't say anything, he just stares down at her wrists, then let's go of it letting it drop to her side.

"Hanzo and the others are here." Kotaro says quietly to Imahana changing the subject.

"Great!" Imahana was just about to walk out the door until Kotaro grabs her by the wrist and pulls her close. He gently picks her up and puts his lips on her neck. "Kotaro!" He sucked on her neck until it hurt and a dark hickey was visible.

"Just so they know you're mine." Then kisses her on the lips. "Let's go, they're waiting." Kotaro takes Imahana, who was dumbfounded by what just happened, by the hand and both walk out of the room into the living room.

"Ha! Told yah!" Cho sees them with their hands locked together and points at Goemon. "You buy us drinks!"

"Tsk." Goemon looked annoyed that he lost a bet of some sort.

"Fine, you guys can get drunk all you want but I'm not letting little girl who can't drink go with you." Hanzo pulls in Cho and holds her protectively and glared at Goemon.

"Hey Goemon, how good are you with sake?" Sasuke had a confident smile on like he wanted some competition.

"I was raised with sake in my veins." And Goemon reflects his confidence back.

"Hey Hanzo!" Cho starts pouting. "I can drink!"

"I know you can, I'm just not gonna let you." He said looking down at her.

"Come on!" She was giving him puppy dog eyes. But he didn't fall for it.

"No."

"Please!" She just kept begging.

"Cho." Hanzo started getting annoyed with her behavior.

"Plea…." Cho was cut off from her begging when Hanzo kissed her on the lips. And it looked like even Cho didn't see it coming. And so were Kotaro and Imahana. They were dumbfounded by what they were seeing in front of them.

"*gag* Why do you have to do that right now?" Sasuke was still grossed out.

"You missed out on a lot while we were gone." Saizo turns to the other couple and looks down at the clasped hand.

"So those two are together?" Imahana looked up at Saizo.

"Yes." He answers. "They were childhood friends. And they have been seeing each other for some time now. Looks like they took it to the next level."

"I still can't believe I'm still single." Goemon walks up to them.

"Maybe because you have never stayed with a girl more then a whole night." Sasuke frowns at Goemon.

"I'm glad she's an assassin. Because if you ever try to sleep with her, she has permission to stab you." Hanzo walks into the group with Cho next to him and Goemon stiffens at the thought.

"Hanzo, remember how I said that he will be assassinated by a prostitute? I don't think he will sleep with anyone in a while. Especially me." She smiles evilly at Goemon and he shudders.

"Hey, back to why we are here!" Saizo tries to get back on subjects so Cho doesn't scare Goemon anymore. "Cho, lets start with the first thing on the list."

"Okay." Cho walks up to Imahana. "I'm gonna need you to lay down on the floor."

"Uh.. Okay." Imahana didn't know what she was gonna do but she also didn't want to ask.

"Okay," Imahana was lying flat on the ground on her back with Cho over her head and the five men sitting around them. "Close your eyes and relax." She did as she was told. She felt the woman's hands touch the side of her head and felt a strong surge of energy go through her. Then after a few moments later, she didn't feel the ground under her. Was she floating?

Cho's hair floated everywhere and her eyes were glowing white. She held up Imahana while meditating. All of the ninjas stared at the supernatural happening in front of them.

"Пожалуйста, меня нужна притит вьзбу." Cho started speaking in a different language that they didn't understand. "Please, let me inside." Then she said somyething that they did understand. "No no no." She then clenched her head. "Get out! Get out of my head!" Imahana slowly floated back down to the ground and opened her eyes.

She notices Cho clenching her head and extends her hand. Kotaro catches it and pulls her into his embrace. She somehow escapes without picking a fight and walks towards Cho who was standing and shaking her head.

"Ты можыйс маяа галава пати." Imahana also spoke in a different language that they didn't know, and it seemed to have affected Cho, who stopped shaking her head back and forth and just stared at Imahana. Imahana extended out her palm and placed it on Cho's forehead. Cho's eyes changed back to her original hazel color and she fell to her hands and knees. While Imahana looked down at her for a moment then started going out of the house. The men, excluding Hanzo who stayed with Cho, ran after her.

"Princess." Sasuke snaps his fingers in front of her face but she didn't flinch.

"Hey Imahana!" Goemon shook her shoulders but she just shakes him off.

"Princess!" Saizo smacks her but she barely responded to that. "Okay, Kotaro. You're gonna have to kiss her." Kotaro didn't seem to mind.

When he caught up with her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in into a kiss. They only kissed for a moment until she pushed him into the ground.

"That isn't Imahana." But he could tell by the way that they kiss was different. She had no feeling into her kiss like she usually does.

"Where is she going?" Goemon looks in the direction of where she was going.

"She's going to the headmans mansion." Kotaro gets up. "The Shinobu are there!" And he runs after her.

 **Back at the House**

"Cho!" Hanzo ran up to Cho who was on her hands and knees, trying to breath. "Are you alright?!" He run by her side.

"Someone else is in her." She says quietly.

"What do you mean?" Hanzo asks.

"I felt someone giving her strength. Giving her power."

"But isn't that good?"

"No." Cho looks up at Hanzo. "That isn't good."

"Why?" Hanzo looked at her curiously.

"Having all that power and strength is making her weak." She pauses. "Imahana will be killed if she lets that person in her. That's why I wasn't about to get inside her head, because someone went into me. Attacking me." Cho's eyes started tearing up slowly.

"What language were you two just speaking?"

"It's a northern language called "Soviet Russian". The one who is in her probably knows that language."

"Well I don't know anything about that language but I bet you do." Hanzo says.

"Yeah, I do. But I need Imahana back here to try to find out who it is." Cho sat up straight.

"That's my girl." Hanzo places his hand on her head making her eyes immediately turn white again. "Cho!" Hanzo takes his hand off of Chos head and shook her shoulders. Her eyes went back to being hazel. "You okay?"

Before she answered him, Cho took the handle of his swords and unsheathed it. Then bringing the blade to the wrist where she cuts a deep gash. She grimaced at the sharp pain in her wrist. Tossing the sword to the side, she takes Hanzo's hand and tightly covers the deep cut, which started bleeding rapidly. Her eyes turned white again, but this time, so did Hanzo's.

 _"Kill them all!" The Shinobu leader points his sword at the four ninjas and his men attack. But the leader didn't stay and watch, he walked into a room with someone sitting in the middle of the room with rope wrapped around them._

 _"So the Princess of the Ninjas was here the whole time? Right under my nose. And I almost let you assassinate me." He pauses. "You know what, I'll make you a deal. You tell me where the treasures are and not assassinate me while I let you live." He pauses again and looks down at the person. "So tell me, where are the treasures?" He knelt right in front of them. And the person looks up at him and glared._

 _"I'm not telling you anything." That person was…. Princess Imahana!_

"What did I just see?" Hanzo takes his hand off of Cho's bloody wrist and looks at her with wide eyes.

"I was just able to make you see the future." Cho covers her wrist with her other hand and puts pressure on it. "I had this vision before." She mutters under her breath.

"Master Hanzo!" Goemon slammed the door open. "We have a problem!"

"I don't understand why we have to stay outside when this is a hopeless village." Two guards stood outside of the entrance gates of the mansion in solute. And one complained about it.

"We just have to you know." The other guard looks at the other guard. "We have to protect the Shinobu leader."

"But doesn't he have like one hundred other soldiers surrounding him? Why does he need us?"

"Wait." The second soldier looks around. "I thought I just felt something next to me." No reply. "Soldier?" He turned back to where the first soldier stood before and gasped at what he saw. The man was laying on the ground covered in blood. He had a slit throat and an arrow in his forehead. But he only saw the scene for a moment until he got an arrow in his forehead and throat.

Imahana(not in control with her body) jumped down from a nearby tree and stared at the corpses before entering the garden grounds.

"What do you mean she's going to the headmans house?" Hanzo, Cho and Goemon ran side by side up to the gates of the headmans house, where Sasuke, Kotaro, and Saizo were already observing the corpses on the ground.

"It seems like she doesn't want anything to do with us but something to do with the Shinobu." Saizo kept looking down at the two guards.

"So she is gonna try to assassinate him?" Sasuke asks.

"I just had a vision of that!" Cho blurts out of no where.

"What do you mean?" Kotaro asks Cho with a curious but interested look.

"That's why he said that he didn't know she was here, and that she wanted to assassinate him. If we go in there, we are all gonna be dead. But we need to get the person out of Imahana and get out of here!"

"Wait!" Saizo shakes his head when he heard her say something about someone being in her. "That isn't Imahana?!"

"No." Kotaro answers. "That's why when I kissed her, she seemed distant. And I just noticed this now, but her eyes aren't supposed to be red, they're blue." Everyone but Cho widen their eyes.

"Hey!" One guard points at Imahana, who was walking down the hallway calmly. "Stop right there!" She stops. "Who are you?" The guard walks closer to her with his hand on this sword.

"Fear." The word was said in a deep voice and not in a voice that a female would have. A moment after hearing the word, his headless body collapses onto the floor. Just then, one of the ladies in waiting exited one of the rooms in the hallway and drops the tea set she was holding, making it shatter when it hit the ground. The sound of a breaking tea set followed by a scream echoed throughout the mansion walls.

Imahana again starts walking down the hall towards the leaders room like nothing just happened. She took the sword from the dead guard and held it in her tight grip. She stood in front of the door until she sensed someone behind her. Turning around to see the four ninjas plus Cho and Hanzo behind her with their weapons wielded and in a fighting stance. Kotaro looks back at Imahana and gasps when he saw that her eyes were both red and blue. She also glances back at him.

 _"Get out! Let me out of here!"_ In Imahanas controlled body, she was locked in darkness and screamed with all her might, but nothing was heard back but her echos. _"Kotaro! Help me, please!"_ She felt hopeless in her own body. She screamed and cried for help, but no one could hear her.

"Don't worry Princess. You be out soon." She then heard a voice in the dark, but when looking around she saw nothing.

 _"Who's there?"_ She looks around.

"My name is Kiko. I have been in your body since the very beginning of your life. And I will help you assassinate the person who killed your parents." She tries to remember when she has ever met a Kiko. And she remembers.

 _"You're the guardian of the family dagger?"_ Imahana looks up in the darkness.

"Yes. I am the beginner of the Reinaoka family. When I died at a young age, I asked if I may be a spirit in the dagger that I have created. I have been dormed for centuries. But when you were given the dagger,"

 _"I unleashed your powers. It's all making sense! When I pricked my finger on the tip and blood dropped on the blade, the family blood, I unleashed you and you finally showed yourself after fifteen years. Cho must have helped you get into my head."_ The puzzle pieces were coming together now!

"Yes." He gives her a short answer then everything went quiet again.

 _"Kiko! KIKO!"_ She yells out his name over and over again until she started seeing what was going on outside.

She looks away from Kotaro and got a grip on the handle. Slamming the door open, there in the middle of the room was the Shinobu leader, Noritaka.

"Who the hell are you?" He looks at her with an annoyed look. But she or Kiko walks up to him with no emotion whatsoever and raises the sword.

"Fear." She says that word again and slashes it down onto him. Noritaka was quick and dodged the strike before wielding his sword out to her.

"Well I won't fear you." He charges and strikes. But misses by a little. They fought for a while until Noritaka takes his small dagger from his pocket and stabs Imahana in the gut. She coughs out some blood until she collapses.

 _"AHHH!"_ Imahana screamed when she saw the blood drop out of her mouth and the dagger dug into her body. She was shaking violently and felt tears run out of her eyes.

"Sir!" A guard ran into the room.

"What?" He said sternly still looking at Imahana on the ground.

"Ninjas are here." Noritaka looks back at him and starts walking out of the room, before giving him instructions.

"Tie her up."

"Yes sir." He finds some rope and walks towards her.

While Imahana was fighting Noritaka, the others were fighting the Shinobu soldiers and ninjas. Hanzo jumped behind Kotaro and cut a samurai in half.

"Kotaro!"

"What Hanzo?" Kotaro didn't look back at Hanzo while Hanzo kept his eyes on him.

"The room down this hall is where Imahana is, go and get the Princess back!" Kotaro nods and runs. Cho dodged a few slashes from a guard then caught the dull edge. When gripping it, she saw Kotaro with a dagger in his chest. Then when coming back to reality, punching the guard into the ground and running after Kotaro.

"Kotaro! Stop!" Kotaro looks back and didn't see the knife in front of him. "Look out!" Cho pushes him into the wall but the consequence for that got a dagger stabbed in her back.

"CHO!" Hanzo ran up to her and got the dagger out of her back. He cradled her in his arms with the other men staring down at them.

"Hanzo..." Cho could barely speak and it was hard for her to breath. "Please... Don't cry.."

She places her hand on his cheek and smiles weakly.

"Cho." Hanzo let a tear run down his cheek and onto her face. They both bring their faces closer together and have their last kiss. They part and Hanzo sees her still face. Her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open. It looked like she was sleeping. Hanzo laid her down on the floor and stared at her face. But the silence didn't last long.

"So ninjas are actually in my house, huh?" Noritaka stood on the other end of the hallway with a lot more guards, samurais, and ninjas.

"Give us the Princess back!" Goemon steps up and shouts at them with anger.

"I don't understand?" He did look confused. "If I did have the Princess right now, I would be gone from this place."

"Fine, give us back our bitch!" The four other ninjas look at Goemon with a glare and he looked at them with a little troubled look.

"So the half-dead girl in my room is the bitch princess that you're looking for?" Noritaka looks at them with a wicked smile.

"You what?!" Sasuke brings out his claws and goes into a fighting stance. "Are you trying to kill Imahana?!" Noritaka just looked at him without saying a word. "I'll kill you."

"Not if I kill you first." Then he points his sword towards the others and yells out, "Kill them all!" The guards, samurais, and ninjas all charged at his command to the ninjas, who wielded their weapons.

"Operation: Get The Princess Back Alive!" Sasuke yells out before he also charged and cut down a few ninjas with his claws.

Noritaka walks into the same room he was just in earlier and walked up to the tied up Imahana.

"So the Princess of the Ninjas was here the whole time? Right under my nose. And I almost let you assassinate me." He pauses. "You know what, I'll make you a deal. You tell me where the treasures are and not assassinate me while I let you live." He pauses again and looks down at the Imahana. "So tell me, where are the treasures?" Noritaka knelt down in front of her and stared. Imahana(still controlled by Kiko) looked up and glared at him.

"I'm not telling you anything." She said this confidently. Noritaka stood up and paced around for a little bit until he punched Imahana on the cheek and she flew to the ground.

"Tell me! Where are they?!" He shouted at her again but she stayed quiet. "Bitch." He kicked Imahana in the stomach making her cough up more blood.

"Hahaha." Imahana starts laughing evilly while still letting her mouth bleed out.

"What's so funny?!" He yells at her but his vision started getting blurry and he swayed back and forth.

"Did you know when you stabbed me, I also stabbed you?" Imahana sits up straight and looks up at him.

"Huh?" She looks at his hip and he saw something stick out of his kimono. When he picked it out, it was an eight inch needle. But it has a horrible stench to it. "What?"

"Poison." After saying this, Noritaka fell to the ground motionless. After he fell to the ground, Imahana came back to herself.

"Kiko?" She finally spoke through her own mouth.

 _"I will be with you until you need me again."_ Silence.

"Thank you." She thanked her long lived relative and started crying.

"IMAHANA!" The door flew open and she saw a silhouette of Kotaro.

"Kotaro!" She shouted back to him and started crying a lot harder.

"It's okay. You're okay." After Kotaro untied the ropes around her he embraced her really tightly and so did Imahana, who was crying in joy and fear.

Kotaro kept her in his embrace for awhile and rubbed his hand down and up her back. Imahana settled down a little and Kotaro picks her up like a little child. She still sobbed, so Kotaro gave her little shushes and "you're okay"s. Her head was on his shoulder, her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist, while Kotaro held her up by her back. Kotaro walked out of the mansion with Imahana and met the others outside. It was starting to get dark out when they finally got back to the house they were staying at.

"We have to leave." Hanzo says after awhile.

"Why?" Sasuke looks at him.

"The other Shinobu will be here soon and they will find them dead. They will figure out that it was us sooner or later." Saizo also agreed with Hanzo's plan.

"But where do we go?" Sasuke kept asking for the questions.

"There is a village in the west called Kishi Village. It's next to the coast so we will probably have a way to get out by boat." Goemon also strategized.

"If we're going to go west, we will leave tonight." Hanzo made the order.

"Yes sir!" And all the ninjas say in a unison.

"Hanzo?" Kotaro stood behind Hanzo, who was leaning against a tree looking up at the full moon.

"Yes?" But Hanzo didn't look back so Kotaro walked up next to him.

"I'm sorry about Cho." Kotaro apologized quietly.

"It's not your fault. Cho wanted to protect all of us, but you were in danger. Your one of my best comrades and I appreciate your skills, but yes I am a little depressed about what happened to her today." It went silent. "How's Imahana?" Hanzo looks over at Kotaro and he saw something he has never seen before on him. Tears. Tears running down his cheeks to the corner of his mouth so he could taste them.

"She was stabbed really badly but I gave her some herbs and remedies to help her heal by the time we get to Kishi." He spoke quietly and closed his eyes. "I should have protected her. But she almost died because I didn't protect her."

"You did fine." Hanzo placed a hand on Kotaro's shoulder and smiles gently. It was silent again.

"*niegh!*"

Kotaro and Hanzo both heard horses. When they looked down at the valley they saw a wild herd of horses galloping around. In the front of the herd, they notice a young black and white stallion. He was galloping faster than the others. Then he finally stops and rears. The others behind him halt at his command and some laid down.

"Looks like they have been running awhile." Said Hanzo. Kotaro then notices the stallion walk up to a little foal who was all alone. He nods his head up and down and so does the little foal. It trots up to the group and starts rearing. While it did that, the black and white horse walks away from the herd and into the woods.

"What's it doing?" Kotaro and Hanzo start walking in the direction it went. They followed behind the horse until they noticed a glowing pool of water in the middle of no where. The horse walks up to it and starts drinking out of it. A few moments later, he picks his head up and looks in the direction close to where the two were.

"Hey Akatsuki." They heard a female voice. And very familiar female voice. When looking back, they saw someone they never would have thought of.


	9. Kiko

The woman rubbed her hand up and down the horses face as it relaxed around her. Kotaro and Hanzo stared at disbelief when the light from the pool showed the face of the woman.

"Why is she here?" Kotaro looks at Hanzo. "How is she here?" He just kept asking the questions.

"I knew that Goemon was gonna be a really bad guard. How did she get out of the house?" Both Kotaro and Hanzo crouch down behind the bush.

"There is a window in the room, that's probably how she got out." Kotaro thinks of a strategy.

"Kotaro. We don't need a complicated plan. Just go up and get her." Hanzo frowns at Kotaro.

"Fine." They stand up and walk towards the woman and the horse.

"Huh?" The woman looks back as she saw them. "Why are you two here?"

"That's what we're wondering Princess." Hanzo glared at her.

"*niegh!*" The black and white horse walks in front of Imahana and rears up while kicking its front hooves at Kotaro and Hanzo.

"Akatsuki!" Imahana jumps in front of the horse and shouts at him. "Down!" His ears push back as he looks back at Kotaro and Hanzo who were behind her.

"Why is he listening to you? Isn't he a wild stallion?" Hanzo looks at the horse.

"No." Imahana starts rubbing his neck.

"But he has his own herd and all." Hanzo looked really confused.

"And I'm saying that Akatsuki isn't a mustang." She narrowed her eyes at them. Kotaro walks a few feet forward until Akatsuki pulls Imahana closer to him and pushes his ears back again.

"Why does he do that?" Kotaro stops and observers the horse. "Didn't you just meet today?"

"No, Akatsuki was Kikos horse before he died." Kotaro looks at her a little confused of what she just said.

"What?" Both Hanzo and Kotaro say in a unison.

"Kiko is my guardian and Akatsuki was his horse and now he is mine." They were still confused. "I'll introduce you to him."

Imahana looks towards Akatsuki and they both put their heads together.

"I really missed you boy." Imahana starts petting Akatsuki like nothing happened.

"Uh... Imahana?" Kotaro raises an eyebrow.

"Oh! Sorry!" She turns to them two again but her eyes were red instead of blue. "I'm Kiko!" Her voice was a little lower than usual.

"Nice to meet you, I think." Kotaro bows to "Kiko" and looks back at Hanzo.

"How are you in her body?" Hanzo raised an eyebrow.

"When I was young I created a dagger. This dagger was made of the finest material, even now, it is worth millions." She pets the horse on the neck. "One day, I was bedridden and they said I wouldn't survive my conditions, so I asked a spiritual believer to place my soul in that special dagger. That dagger was then passed down from generations to generation until Imahana was given it. She was in a tough position when she found it. When she picked up that dagger for the first time, I felt myself wake up and knew I would come out. Her blood dripped from her finger to the blade and letting me free. That was when I was put into her body. But I didn't have the power to take control of her yet until Cho got into her head. I let myself into her body then when Imahana touched her, I took full control. And that is how we assassinated the Shinobu leader!" Kiko smiled widely as he gave Akatsuki a good scratch behind the ear.

Hanzo and Kotaro stared at Imahana(Kiko) with confused faces. They didn't understand anything of what he just said. They look at each other at the same time and blink. They read each others minds. "What is going on here?" Looking back at the girl happily petting the "wild" horse, he remembers what he said about the dagger.

"What dagger are you talking about?" Kotaro asks Kiko.

"Oh…" Kiko opens his eyes wide. "It's back at the house, I could show you there." He then jumps on the back of the horse and clicks to walk.

"Here it is!" Kiko holds outs the sheathed dagger in front of them when they got back to the house.

"Imahana showed me this dagger before but I didn't know much about it." Kotaro looks at the dagger, remembering how it looked years ago.

"Speaking of Imahana, you want her back?" The two nod. "Fine." Kiko shuts his eyes for a second and when reopening them, the colors went back to blue.

"IMAHANA!" Kotaro jumps onto who is now Imahana and they both fall to the ground.

"Well I have never seen him like this before." Hanzo stared at the two on the ground.

"It happens when he hasn't seen me in a while." Imahana looks around the room. "You three sure have been talking for a long time."

"Kiko seems like a nice person, but he almost killed you." Hanzo says with a serious tone. Suddenly the door to the bedroom slams open.

"Shut up!" Saizo walks in with clenched fists and glaring eyes. "I thought you all went to bed so I wanted some peace and quiet for a night until Kotaro starts begin a loud mouth!"

"Saizo," Sasuke and Goemon poke their heads through the door. "You just woke both of us up." And the two say in a unison.

"They started it." Saizo points at Kotaro.

"Nu-uh!" He rejects.

"You woke me up first."

"It's your fault for being a light sleeper!"

"I'm not a light sleeper!"

"Oh yeah you are!"

"They are acting like kids again." Hanzo thought to himself.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Imahana falls to the ground laughing when Saizo and Kotaro started to argue.

"Hey! What's so funny?" Goemon and Sasuke start laughing with her. Confused, Kotaro and Saizo stare at each other.

"You guys are acting like kids again!" Imahana was trying to speak but had trouble when she couldn't stop laughing.

"No we aren't!" Saizo and Kotaro both say it in a unison again and Imahana, Goemon, and Sasuke laugh harder.

"You guys will never grow up." Hanzo just smiles and shakes his head.

"Wait," Goemon turns serious within seconds. "Why are you here?"

"Kiko was showing them my dagger." Imahana wipes away the tears from her eyes and sits up, showing them the dagger.

"Three things. One: who's Kiko?" Goemon looked around the room trying to look for an unfamiliar face.

"Two: what's special about this dagger?" Saizo stared down at the dagger in Imahanas hands.

"And three: what's with the horse?" And Sasuke was in front of Akatsuki having a staring contest with him.

"One: that's why we're all here." Imahana was the first to speak.

"Two: that's why we're all here." Kotaro repeats what Imahana said.

"And three: stop staring at Akatsuki." Hanzo looked up at Sasuke who was still having the staring competition with the horse. After a moment, Akatsuki sneezes in Sasukes face and he covers his eyes and falls back onto the ground. Then horses starts nodding his head up and down and making this laughing sound.

"You cheated!" Akatsuki shakes his head. "Yeah-hu!" He shakes his head again.

"SASUKE!" Hanzo shouts at Sasuke and he starts pouting.

"So who is this Kiko guy anyway?" Goemon sits down across from the three on the ground.

"I'll get him here." Imahana clicks her tongue and Akatsuki walks up to her bringing his head to hers. After a moment, she turns back around.

"You just can't get enough of me can't you?" The three ninjas open their eyes wide when she spoke to them and they saw red eyes.

"Well, they asked for you." Kotaro acts like usual, knowing from before.

"Well I won't be rude. My name is Kiko Reinaoka. The one that started the family." He bows to the ninjas. Who were staring at him with a dumbfounded look. "And this is Akatsuki. My horse." Akatsuki bows also. "I have created a dagger that has my soul in it and now it is in Imahanas body. She released me when she was found by you ninjas 15 years ago. And Cho helped me be able to take over her body. But I can't do it myself, Imahana has to do something that triggers me to wake up and take over her." He smiles. But the three just stared. "I'll give you Imahana back. I need some rest." After closing his eyes, he reopened them making them turn blue again.

"You guys must love to talk to him." Imahana sits back down next to Kotaro and looks up at the three people staring at her. "Could you please stop?"

"Sorry!" They all say in a unison and averted their gazes somewhere around the room.

"There is more to the story but that was just the summary." Hanzo explained.

"So you're saying that in this dagger," Saizo pointed at the sheathed short sword. "Has the soul of your greatest grandparent and the first line of the Reinaoka family?"

"Yeah, basically." Imahana held her chin.

"But, why did he go into your body and not into anyone else's?" Goemon also adds to the first question.

"Well he did get into Cho's head. That's why he spoke Russian and why I was possessed. He's giving me strength." Imahana shows a weak smile to the men.

 _"Someone else is in her."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"I felt someone giving her strength. Giving her power."_

 _"But isn't that good?"_

 _"No. That isn't good."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Having all that power and strength is making her weak. Imahana will be killed if she lets that person in her."_ Hanzo was remembering his and Cho's conversation about Kiko. And how giving her strength would kill her.

"What's on your mind Master Hanzo?" Sasuke notices Hanzo staring into space as he remembers everything.

"Oh, nothing." He replied quietly.

"We should probably talk about this tomorrow." Saizo stood up and walked out of the room.

"Yeah, we need to get some sleep for tomorrow. We will be going far into the east and that Kishi village is really far so rest as much as you can." Goemon followed Saizo out.

"G'night guys." Sasuke also follows the two out.

"Akatsuki? Will you be sleeping here tonight?" Imahana looks back at her horse and asks him.

"Neigh" Kotaro didn't understand what he said but seems like he was gonna sleep outside by the way he saw him walk out of the room.

"Goodnight you two." Hanzo also left at last.

"Kiko seems like a nice guy." Kotaro finally speaks after a silent five minutes.

"Yeah. Even after all that, I didn't even see his get that needle in his hip when he stabbed me. I was just too scared to look at myself coughing up blood and coming close to dieing from blood loss. But he did save a lot of people." Imahana talked positively about Kiko, but Kotaro knew that with him inside of her she will die sooner than later.


	10. Goemons Fault

**Authors Note: this is a long chapter but I also finally got in some lemons in here. And I enjoy ever bit of it. Enjoy**

Chapter 10: Goemon's Fault

The sun was already setting on the opposite side of the coast when the crew arrived at the Kishi village. Looking around for an inn, they asked around about Shinobu, but seems like this village is strong and rich enough to take them out. But Imahanas still worried about the assassination and all that happened in the Yasu Village. Riding on the back of Akatsuki with Kotaro holding her, she couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen.

"Imahana." She snapped back into reality when she heard her name.

"Yes, what?" Looking back at Kotaro, she saw worry in his eyes.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She gave him a forced smile when he knew she wasn't.

"What's going on in your head right now?" He asked her seriously.

"You really can see through me huh?" He nods. "I have a feeling that something's gonna happen while we're here. Something big." Kotaro didn't have any emotion on his face but Imahana could tell by looking at his eyes that he was interested in what she had to say. "That was the Shinobu leader, but we still need to get the Shinobu General and his army. I have a feeling that that wasn't the last that we will see him." She kept explaining.

"You shouldn't worry about it." Goemon came out of nowhere and rode his horse beside them. "I will be happy to keep you safe when they do come." Goemon then looks at Kotaro with a cocky smile.

"Like you would." He still didn't have any emotion but his tone of voice told him it was a threat.

"Hey guys!" Sasuke, who was in front of them, yelled out to the three. "We found an inn. They also have a stable for the horses." Once they got to the stables, they dismounted their horses and got rooms. Sasuke and Saizo reminded Goemon that he was paying for their drinks and all three left to the bar. Hanzo went to his room and Kotaro and Imahana walked around the village.

"This place is really nice." Imahana looked at the shops and restaurants around the village and saw lots of amazing things.

"Being at the coast, they would have enough resources to trade with other villages and cities making it a rich place." Kotaro also looked at the shops. But when they were passing by a certain shop, something caught Imahanas eye. She suddenly stops and turns her head to the shop. "What wrong?" Kotaro notices and also stops.

"Nothing. It's just that I feel somewhat thing in there." She starts walking towards it.

"Feel?" Kotaro also walks with her and they enter the shop. The shop is a scroll shop, having history and culture in records so it can be seen, she looked through the isles of scrolls and finally pulls out an old, worn out scroll with ancient writings in it. "What is it?" She opens it and they both widen their eyes.

They saw a sketched picture of Kiko Reinaoka with Akatsuki by his side.

"It's about the first Reinaoka." She whispers. A tear starts to roll down her cheek as she read the history of her greatest grandparent. Then she quickly rolls up the scroll again and pushes it back where she found it.

"Hey, Imahana?" Kotaro follows her out of the shop and down the street. "What was that about?"

"I had a feeling that I should have known what happened to Kiko and all. But reading about his life and his death, I felt like I regretted what I did." Tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped off of her chin. "I felt guilty. He died at a young age and he has been bedridden for months. I felt like he has been through a lot." Kotaro wraps his arms around her and holds her close.

"You had to read and know about it." He rubbed her back to comfort her. "You did the right thing. Learning a little about the history of the person inside of you and doing this is helping you understand who you yourself is. And don't blame yourself for thing that didn't involve you in it."

"Can we go back to the inn?" Kotaro silently nodded and they headed back to the inn hand in hand.

Once they got to their room, it was already dark outside and Kotaro was going to take a bath. Imahana was laying on the futon, staring at the ceiling when Kotaro came back from the bath. He was half naked with only his pants on but his whole top area was exposed revealing all his scars. When Imahana saw this, she couldn't take her eyes off his body. She was entranced with his muscular arms and abs, his deep scars, and his movements. That's what it takes to be a ninja. When Kotaro finally notices her staring at him, he glances at her and lock each other's eyes. Imahana started blushing bright red then averted her gaze somewhere else in the room.

"Why were you staring at me?" Kotaro starts walking towards her.

"Uh... No reason." She felt very embarrassed for staring at his strong body, and blushes more.

"Liar." When she turns back around, she seems that Kotaro was just a few feet from her. He had a curious look on his face.

"Well...um..." She tried not to burn her face off as he moved closer to her.

"Spit it out."

"I was admiring your body!" She blurted out and covers her mouth with her hand.

"You were what?" Kotaro also started blushing a little but then laughs to cover it up. "Hahaha!"

"Hey!" Imahana slaps Kotaro on the shoulder. "How is me admiring you funny?!"

"It means you are attracted to me." He gives Imahana an unexpected kiss on the lips. "And that's my way of showing you that I'm in love with you." She blushes even harder. Her blood was boiling with pleasure and embarrassment. "You're so cute." He kisses her again.

"Stop teasing me." She says in a quiet voice.

"Yes and no."

"Huh?" She was confused with his comment.

"No because it's fun." He flicked Imahanas nose lightly and she flinches. "And yes because I don't want other seeing how cute you can get." Then with the same finger, Kotaro traces down to Imahanas lips and brushes them. Coming closer to her again, he covers her lips with his and locks them together. Imahana still blushed at the passionate kisses but enjoyed them with pleasure running down her spine. When they parted, Imahana quickly stood up and walked to the door. "Where are you going?"

"Cooling off." She looks back at him with a red face and he smiles at her.

"I'll be waiting." He nods and she leaves.

Imahana walked around in the small field behind the inn and felt the cool, salty breeze blow on her face. Then walking a little further, she felt sand under her feet and smelt the ocean waters. She relaxes as she inhaled the air and cleared out her mind. But it didn't last long until her quiet night was interrupted by a voice.

"You like it here?" He heard Goemon walking towards her and turns back.

"Yeah. It's relaxing and I get to clear my mind from everything that has been happening lately." Goemon walks up next to her and stares off into the darkened horizon. "Aren't you drunk from drinking yet?"

"I'm from Iga." He looks back at her. "And ninjas there are trained to the toughest. Even at a young age we have to learn to drink the most strongest sake you can think of. So basically, I don't get drunk easily like Sasuke." He gives her a cocky smile. But Imahana could see a little evil in that smile and took a step away from him. "Hey, why you stepping away from me?" He starts walking towards her.

"Uh..." She tries to find an excuse. "You smell like sake so I was moving away from it to get a breather." She didn't sound confident at all and that made Goemon smile widen.

"Maybe I can help you get used to it." Saying this, he catches Imahana by the waist and pulls her in into a kiss. Imahana widened her eyes with the deep kiss and tastes the sake.

"What the hell was that for?!" She tries pushing him away but fails as he pulls her into another kiss. This time, he pushed his tongue into her mouth. He played with her tongue as she try's to push him away again. He finally takes his lips off hers and speaks seductively.

"You should dump Kotaro and become my woman." He then whispers in her ear. "I will give you the pleasure you want."

"Get away from me!" Imahana finally pushes him back a few feet and then steps away from him. "You're nothing but a playboy! Why would you want to have me when you cheat on every woman you meet?!" She became furious with his attitude.

"Because no other woman is like you." He quickly grabs her wrist and yanks her onto him. Pulling her body up against his and holding her head in place, he forces another tongue kiss into her mouth.

"Have you been paying attention to who woman she is?" They both heard a third voice and Goemon lets go of Imahanas lips. Looking up they both see Kotaro standing a few yards away from them with a grim face on.

"I know who's woman this is." Goemon evilly smiles and let's go of Imahana. "That's why I want her."

"You're just gonna play with her." Kotaro glares into Goemon's eyes.

"That's the point." He walks up next to him and saying in a quiet voice. "And I can give her more pleasure then you can ever give her." Then he walks away. Once he was out of sight, Kotaro grabs hold of Imahanas wrist and pulls her towards the bath area.

"Hey Kotaro! That hurts." Yet she says this, he didn't reply nor loosen his grip on her wrist. When he finally dragged her into a bath house, he locks the door behind him and looks back at Imahana grimmly. "What are we doing here?" Kotaro didn't answer her. He just grabs hold of her arm and pulls her in into a rough kiss.

"Never kiss anyone else." He said sharply after parting.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" She answers back bluntly.

"Not even Goemon." He didn't seem to listen to her when he talked. Kissing her again, he stripped her down and through her clothes on the ground.

"Eeeek!" Imahana covers herself and takes a step back. Kotaro also quickly takes off his kimono and tosses it onto the ground near Imahanas clothes. Pushing her against the wall, he kisses her more and more deeper. "Kotaro!" Imahana was finally able to moan out Kotaro's name and he stops.

"I'm trying to prove how much I love you." He hangs his head.

"You don't have to prove anything." Imahana holds up his head and stare into his eyes. "I already know how much you love me." This time, he gives her a light kiss and they both smile.

"I still need to wash the smell of sake off of you." Kotaro picks her up and walks to the tub. Placing her in the water, he takes off his pants and also slides into the water. "Turn around." Imahana turns her back to Kotaro and she feels warms water being poured onto her. Then Kotaro gets a rag with soap on it and starts wiping her back with it. After a while, he finally speaks again. "Okay. Now face me." She turns around and looks up at him. He added more soap to the rag and washes her neck and chest area. Feeling uncomfortable, she starts blushing again. "You should have done something."

"Huh?"

"You should have just came back to the room when you saw Goemon instead of just standing there." Kotaro's voice started shaking when he talked about Goemon.

"I pushed him away but he just kept taking me back." Imahana told him as he looked her in the eye. "I tried to tell him I wasn't willing to be with him. I wanted to stay with you." Kotaro stops washing her and pushes her against the edge of the tub.

"You'll be with me no matter what. And I'll also be by your side no matter what." He kisses her and pushes his tongue into her mouth.

This kiss brought pleasure into Imahanas body and she felt herself wanting more. And Kotaro seemed to know what she wanted because he made each and every kiss deep and passionate. Kotaro starts running his hands up and down her body as they kissed. He got down to her thighs and runner the inner part knowing from last time what happened. She flinches by his touch and try's to pull back. But as he enters a finger, she starts moaning out in between their kisses. Kotaro leans down and licked her nipples several times before sucking it into his mouth. Massaging her breasts and fingering her got her moaning in pleasure and shock waves were going through her body like crazy. He mind was fuzzy and her body heated up. Kotaro finally takes his fingers out of her and stared straight into Imahanas eyes.

"May I enter you?" He asks her and in embarrassment, she nods. "It will hurt." He adjusts his member and for the first time, thrust into Imahana, becoming one with her.

"AHHH!" Imahana screams out in pain, jerking her head back, and clenching the sides of the tub as she felt it go up into her. But after a little, that pain became a pleasure to her. _"I can't believe how I'm one with Kotaro._ " She felt tears of happiness start to form in her eyes as she looks at Kotaro.

"Does it hurt?" He asked her worryingly.

"No, not anymore." She shook her head and Kotaro kisses her on the forehead.

"Great." He starts moving in her slowly at first so she could get used to it.

She moans out a little at first but when Kotaro starts quickening his speed, her moans got louder and more often. Kotaro also lets out a couple of moans as he thrust harder and faster in her. After a few minutes, Kotaro stops and pulls his member out of Imahana. Picking her up and laying her down on the ground, he opens up her legs and starts licking her clit. She couldn't help but moan and breath heavily as she was given pleasure. His tongue entered her vagina and tasted her insides. He thought it was satisfying but he wanted to hear Imahana scream out more. Exiting her, he grabs her by the hips and pulls her into the water again and makes her sit on his lap as he sat on the seat in the tub. Adjusting his member again, he lifts Imahana a little and then sits her onto him again. Then moving their hips in a unison, Kotaro licked and sucked on her breasts. She was finally feeling something inside her pushing out. Running through her in a fast speed. Moaning really loudly and digging her nails into Kotaro's back, that was his hint that she was gonna cum soon. He also felt himself start to ejaculate and as he grunts, they both reached climax and fall onto each other. Breathing heavily.


	11. Drunken Love

**Authors Note: I have finally made a long chapter and I am finally getting some good ideas for some lemons! I also hope that the humor I try to put in these aren't really bad, because I try my best with them.**

Chapter 11: Drunken Love

"I win!" Imahana throws her hands over her head in triumph after jumping over a bush and turning Akatsuki around to see Kotaro trotting around the tiny, little bush she just easily jumped over.

It was in the middle of the day when Imahana and Kotaro decided to go for a ride on the shore. It first started out as a little walk until Imahanas little lightbulb popped in her head. While Kotaro was looking out into the horizon, she kicked Akatsuki into the canter and turned 180 degrees in her seat. Kotaro notices her and started to pick up the canter also. When he got close to her, she sticks out her tongue at him and winks. Then turning back around she cued the horse into a gallop and they both galloped on the shore until Imahana took a sharp turn into the forest, creating a smooth race into a cross country course. Riding bareback and bridles was easy for Imahana, even as she dodged and jumped trees and bushes. But for Kotaro, he didn't jump anything much. Even when having the saddle on. He was an experienced rider but he wasn't taught how to ride cross country.

"We didn't even bet." He seemed out of breath.

"Are you tired already?" She trots up next to him and gives him a teasing smile.

"Well it's not easy trying to keep up with a wild horse on a horse I have just started riding today." He shakes his head a little. "I kinda miss White Samurai." He said quietly.

"Yeah, I miss Oka too." Imahana looked up to the sky and sighs.

"Remember our first little horse race?" Kotaro smiles as he said that.

"Yeah, I remember." Imahana looks back at Kotaro and gives a little laugh. "None of us really won because we both got bucked off our horses and thrown into the river."

"Well you actually won."

"Huh?" She looked at him curiously.

"Yeah." He nods.

"How did I win if both of us got wet?" She walked up next to Kotaro and his horse with a question mark floating over her head.

"You were the first one that fell into the water." Kotaro laughed as Imahana stared at him irritably and smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!" He looks at her and rubbed the back of his head where she smacked him. She glared hard at him and he felt sweat running down his back.

"So this where you guys went." They both heard a familiar voice and turned around to see Saizo and Goemon also on horseback.

"What do you need?" Imahana asks because Kotaro went quiet.

"We will be packing up and leaving here soon." Saizo halted his horse in front of them.

"How are we leaving?"

"We will be leaving on a boat to the islands in the south west." Goemon also halts his horse next to Saizo's.

"So… we are gonna be…. in the middle of nowhere?" Imahana gulped as she asked.

"Yes. It is a two day sail there." She starts shaking a little but tries not to show it and tries to act confident.

"Is something wrong?" Kotaro looks at her a little concerned.

"No, no I'm fine. Nothings wrong." Imahana replied quickly and shakes her head.

"Are you sure? You're shaking a little." Goemon also sees her shaking a little.

"Like I said, I'm fine." Saying harshly, she kicks Akatsuki into a trot and trots past them. The three men look at each other and shrug, then follow Imahana out of the forest onto the shoreline again.

"So how did you get so far out?" Goemon looks back at the entrance of the forest.

"Imahana and I raced." Short answers.

"Goemon," Imahana sits backwards on her horse and smiles mischievously. "Wanna make a bet?"

"If you lose the race I could sleep with you for a night?" She stared at him blankly before turning towards Saizo.

"Saizo, wanna bet?"

"Hey!" Imahana just ignored Goemon.

"We will race back to the village and if I win, you buy us rounds."

"And if you lose, you buy us rounds." Saizo and Imahana nod at each other and they all stop in a line. Goemon, Saizo, Imahana, and Kotaro.

"Ready, set, GO!" The four kick their horses to the gallop and were at the same speed for a little bit, until Imahanas horse picked up its speed and was a few strides ahead. Imahana is faster than the three because she doesn't have a saddle in her way and isn't putting extra weight onto the horse. So she would totally win.

"Come on you slow pokes!" Imahana shouts over her shoulder to the three men behind her.

"I'm not buying drinks for you!" Saizo kicked his horse more and it was speeding up just a little.

"I'm diggin the drinks." Goemon tells Kotaro and Kotaro nods back to him.

In the corner of Imahanas eye, she saw how there were fallen trees all over the trail path in the forest and she smiled to herself. She does a quick stop and runs onto the grassy area. Picking up her gallop again, she jumped a few bushes and fallen trees until she saw a five foot tall wall coming up ahead of them.

"Imahana!" Saizo was behind her still on the sand when he also saw the wall. He called out to her but she wasn't listening. She kept galloping towards the wall without any hesitation. "Imahana!" He called out to her again and again she didn't listen.

When getting close to the wall, Imahana untangled her fingers from Akatsukis long mane and spread out her arms to her sides. Separating her fingers so she could feel the air come between them and pulling her hair tie out letting her long brown hair fly free in the wind. When Akatsukis hooves left the ground, she leaned forward so that her chest was leaning against his crest and so her legs were rubbing against his barrel. Saizo, Goemon, and Kotaro saw her glide over the wall with ease without a saddle or a bridle. She looked majestic with the horse under her. When she landed on the other side of the wall she closed her eyes and dropped her arms to her sides still keeping her gallop.

"That was amazing!" Saizo dropped his mouth open.

"I knew she could ride, but never knew that she could jump something that tall." Kotaro also had his mouth dropped open.

"Now that's just hot." Kotaro glares at Goemon and kicks him off his horse. "WHAT THE HELL MAN!"

"Really?" Saizo looks back at Kotaro with an eyebrow raised.

"He started it."

"You two are always acting like kids."

"Shut up." Kotaro looks forward but then he notices that Imahana wasn't in front of them. "Wait, where's Imahana?"

"She probably already got to the village." Saizo slows down his horse to the trot and so does Kotaro.

"Why do you think that?" Kotaro looks back and sees Goemon on his horse trotting towards them. "Did you break anything?"

"I think I got a sand burn." He rubbed his shoulder and grimaced.

"Hey guys!" Imahana was walking back to the three still on Akatsuki, but this time two village girls were riding with her. A girl about nine had her arms around Imahanas waist while in front of her a little girl about five held the horse's mane.

"I'm guessing Saizo buys us drinks?" Goemon smirks at Saizo, and he kicks Goemon off of the horse again making him land on his back. "Ow."

"How many rounds are you gonna buy us Saizo?"  
Imahana, Sasuke, and Goemon just gulped down their third round, and Imahana and Sasuke were the only ones that were easily getting drunk while Goemon was still sober. Saizo and Kotaro were also strong drinkers like Goemon but they were slowly sipping on their second round.  
"I know that you drink, but don't drink too much." Kotaro takes her cup and puts it on the other side of him, out of range from her. "I remember the last time you were drunk, and it was not pretty." Imahana frowned.  
"You mean when she went to a banquet and was dared to drink six cups of sake?" Sasuke had his fourth cup held to his lips and laughed. "That was hilarious!" He gulped it down until Imahana smacked him on the back of his head making him choke on the sake and cough it out.  
"Well that was some strong sake. Not my fault if I tried seducing the headmans son. Who was married." She blushed as she tried to remember what had happened four years ago. "HOLD UP!" She glared at Sasuke as she remembered that they watched over her.  
"I was at the banquet too. Didn't you see me in the crowd?" She stared back at him blankly as if she was staring at a plain white wall. Sorta confused.  
"The banquet was held by some ninjas and we were all invited." Kotaro sipped on his sake without looking at Imahana.  
"And as always, Goemon slept with someone." Saizo side glared at Goemon as he smirked.  
"She was drunk." He gulped down his fifth cup. "She didn't even remember sleeping with me when waking up."  
"Aren't you drunk yet?" Imahana was surprised that he didn't look very tipsy even from drinking five cups already.  
Goemon laughed a little(sounded a little tipsy there) "I can't get drunk."  
"Well that is crazy." Imahana drank her fourth cup and leaned on the table. "I'm really close to face planting." Then she face plants on the table top. "Ow." You could hear her mumble.  
"Well let's not get too drunk. We will be leaving soon." When Saizo mentioned them leaving, Imahana sat up straight and stiffened in an instant and had her eyes wide open.  
"You okay?" Sasuke pokes her cheek.  
"You're doing the same thing that you did a while ago." Goemon was now drinking his seventh cup.  
"I'm not paying for your drinks Goemon." Saizo didn't want Goemon taking advantage of the free drinks.  
"Fine." Goemon said as he huffed.  
"I think I will try to sober up before we leave." Imahana stood up from her seat and took a couple of steps before face planting on the floor. "Ow." Sasuke and Goemon snicker, Saizo just sipped on his drink and Kotaro sighed. Finishing his cup he stood up and picked up Imahana, carrying her out of bar. "I can walk." She said to Kotaro once they got into the sunlight.  
"I bet." He looked just a little drunk from drinking three cups but he drank them slowly. He didn't seem to sway or stumble when they walked to the bath house to bathe. "You smell like a drunky." They got to one of the bath houses and he locked the door behind him.  
"Why are you in here?" She asked him.  
"I have to sober up too before we leave." He went to the tub and started adding the water, feeling it so it was the right temperature. "You could start to undress right now." He told her but didn't seem to have any emotion.  
"Not in front of you." She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.  
"You want me to undress you?" Kotaro looked back at her with serious eyes.  
"No!" She shakes her head and hands. "I'll undress myself." Imahana starts undoing her belt slowly. Then placing it on the ground, she hesitated before opening her kimono to expose her body.  
"I've seen you naked before." Kotaro said with a little frustration in his voice. "You don't have be reluctant around me."  
"You know that I'm self-conscious so don't act like I would just strip naked even in front of you."  
"Want me to help?" He walked up to her and grabbed ahold of the opening to her kimono. Before he could open it up, Imahana got ahold of his wrist and tried to push it away.  
"No." She took a step back away from him.  
"Hey come on." He stepped closer to her and pushed her to the wall. "I can teach you how to show yourself in front of me." He whispered in her ear seductively sending a chill down her spine.  
"Please don't." She had her hands on his chest and was about to push him away from her, but Kotaro grabbed hold of her wrists and pushed them over her head.  
"Now, will you listen and do what I tell you?" Is it just her or is he acting perverted because he is drunk?  
"Yes." Answering quietly and nods. Kotaro smiles and let's go of her hands.

"Undress me." He steps back a step and stood there patiently.

Imahana hesitated but then reached to the belt. Untying it, she circles around him and drops the belt to the ground. Sliding her hands up his back, she got hold of his collar and slowly slide his kimono off his shoulders and down the arms, letting it fall to the ground. She was about to pull his pants down, but Kotaro got ahold of her hands and pulls her to face him. He shakes his head and she looks back at him confused.

 _"Didn't he just want me to undress him?"_ She thought to herself.

"I'll do that myself." He said.

She nods. "Okay."

"Now, before the water gets cold, I want you to undress." He lets go of her hands and stared at her. She started feeling herself turn red from him staring at her unexposed body.

"Kay." She started sliding her kimono off her body and it fall to the ground. Then locking her knees together and covering her breast with her arms to not show those parts. She is VERY self-conscious.

"Why are you covering yourself?" Kotaro walked closer to her and placed his hands on her wide hips.

"It's not fair." Imahana said shyly.

"What's not fair?" He didn't understand what she was complaining about.

"It's not fair that I have to stand in front of you fully naked while you are only half naked. That's what's not fair." She said bluntly.

"Would it be better if I took off my pants?" He looked at her with no expression whatsoever and was able to say it out loud easily.

"Sorta." It was humid in the bath house so her hair started sticking to her skin and they were both becoming damp. Kotaro took a few steps back and quickly took off his pants and threw them to the pile of clothes.

"Better?" He walked up to Imahana again and asked.

"Yeah." She leans her body into Kotaros and relaxed. "It feels nice being this close to you." Her head rested on his chest and her arms wrapped around his back.

When she got close to him she felt something hard push against her. Peeking down, she saw Kotaros member. It had gotten bigger and harder from being turned on by making Imahana what to do. Seeing her naked really got to him, even if it didn't show on the surface.

"I really need you right now." Imahana heard Kotaro whisper and looked up at him. When looking up at him, he pushed his lips onto hers and kissed her hard. Pushing his tongue in her mouth they played with each other's.

"Kotaro." Imahana moans out his name.

"You sound sweet."

He ran kisses down her neck, her collarbone, her shoulders, then down to her breasts. He sucked on her nipples and licked them up and down and in little circles. Sliding his hands down between her legs, he felt her soaking in her fluid.

"You're all wet."

"Don't say that!" Imahana yells out.

Kotaro just laughs and enters a finger inside Imahana, making her flinch. Then adding a second finger, he moved them inside of her and she moans out pleasurably. She rocked her body in rhythm with his fingers inside of her.

"Kotaro! I'm gonna cum!" When Kotaro heard this, he stopped fingering her and went down to his knees under Imahana and started licking her clit. She finally felt herself release the cum out of her body and Kotaro made sure it all went into his mouth. He stood up and faced Imahana again. Her breathing was heavy and her legs felt weak. Kotaro swoopes her up and carries her to the tub and set her into the water.

"You okay?" He asked her sounding a little concerned.

"Uh-huh." She nodded. When Kotaro got into the bath, he picked Imahana and placed her on his lap. "Can't we be done yet?" Imahana was not used to having to cum more than once, then add being drunk and you have someone who would pass out sooner or later.

"Why? The fun just started." Kotaro starts sucking on Imahanas breast again and rubbed her inner thigh. Imahana was moaning out loudly and yelped out once in a while when Kotaro bit her. "You're getting more and more wet by the minute." Kotaro looked up at her face and smiled seductively.

"Are you sure it isn't the bath water?" Imahana was blushing really hard when he told her how wet she was. She knew that she was really wet, but she wasn't gonna admit it.

"Haha, I'm positive." He laughs a little and kisses her on the lips. "Do you know how to ride?" She knew what he meant.

"No." She shook her head.

"Let me show you how." He lifts her a little and held her up, hovering over his dick. "This is gonna hurt a little." Kotaro pushes down Imahanas hips and penetrates deep inside of her. She screams out in pain and dug her nails into Kotaros skin, making him grimace in pain. After a few seconds, Imahana stopped screaming and was trying to catch her breath. "You okay?"

"That really hurts." She still had her nails dug into his skin but she didn't notice yet.

"Sorry." He kissed her lightly on the lips and she relaxed a little. "Just relaxe and I will do the rest." She nodded and relaxed her body and released her fingers from his flesh.

Kotaro started out slow. Moving up and down inside her, he let Imahana get used to the feeling before speeding things up. After a bit she started moving her hips in a unison with him. Light moans told him that she was already used to the feeling and he started speeding up. The two rocked their hips back and forth while letting out sweet moans of pleasure. Kotaro could start feeling a tingle come up from him and he grunted, while Imahana moaned louder and louder as she was about to release the cum from inside of her. After a few more hard thrust, Kotaro and Imahana climaxed at the same time. Their breathing was heavy as they collapse onto each other.

"That felt great." Imahana said as she was catching her breath.

"I would make you feel that good all day and night, but we would have to do it a day when we aren't heading out somewhere and when we aren't drunk." She nodded in agreement.


	12. Autophobia

Chapter 12: Autophobia

"What are you doing?" Sasuke walks up to Imahana as she stared out at the open waters.  
"Oh! Um...nothing." She jumped at his voice and shook her head.  
"You sure? You look like you're shaking." He gave her a suspicious look.  
"Oh. I am?" Trying to act like she wasn't, she tried to calm herself down and look normal.  
"Yeah."  
"Well I'll be fine." She flips her wrist and does a cheesy smile.  
"When a woman says that, it means that they aren't gonna be fine." Goemon walks into their conversation. "It usually means that they are hurt inside or just don't want to tell people the problem."

"And how do you know that?" Imahana knows his playboy act. But this was surprising to her because he just wants the sex, not feeling.  
"A woman I saw at a bar once was drinking a lot so I asked what the problem was and she said she was fine. I knew she wasn't fine and then she told me that my answer was right." He didn't seem to care by the look on his face of what he was saying.  
"Was she drunk enough to have done it with you?" Sasuke asks.

"I bought a couple strong ones." He showed his smile, the scary one showing that he did have sex with her, and gave her a chill run down the spine.

"Can we go yet!?" Saizo starts complaining as we waited for our boat to arrive. He paced back and forth in front of the dock.

"Do you see the boat?" Hanzo had his hand rested on his forehead as he was leaning against a post, annoyed with Saizos behavior right now.

Kotaro stood on the edge of the deck with his eyes closed.

"Kotaro." Imahana says his name quietly as she walked up behind him. He didn't answer her, but just stayed quiet.

She walked up next to him to the edge of the dock and stared out at the open waters. She was fine when she did it a few minutes age but now something felt weird. Her eyes widened as she saw the view in front of her. She couldn't see anything in miles but the horizon. She felt a familiar feeling start flooding over her. It felt like she was alone. Alone in darkness. She knew Kotaro was next to her but she didn't feel his presents at all. She felt isolated. She feels her hands start shaking and could feel sweat running down her back. She was starting to have a hard time breathing and took a step back from the edge of the dock. Kotaro noticing this looked back at her questionly.

"Imahana? You okay?" Imahana held her chest and looked like she was having trouble breathing. Kotaro started getting worried and walked towards her. "Imahana?"

Her vision started getting shaky and blurry and she was starting to sway back. She wouldn't look anywhere else but the beautiful yet terrifying scenery.

"Can't... Breath..." Imahanas breathing was ragged and rough. She was still clenching her chest as she kept stepping back away from the edge.

"IMAHANA!" Kotaro got close to her and firmly gripped her shoulders. He shook her gently at first but didn't show any signs of coming back to reality. "IMAHANA! ANSWER ME!" He shook her more violently this time but she managed to escape his grip and fell back over the dock.

Kotaro reached out to grab her hand but was just inches off as her feet stepped in air. Falling into the water with a splash, she sunk down under the surface. Imahana was a great swimmer but for some reason, she wasn't able to get any air. She had a harder time breathing as she cocked in all the salt water into her lungs. Her vision darkened and she didn't see anything anymore. Not even the wide, open ocean.

But above surface, Kotaro dived into the water and swam down next to Imahana and grabbed her by the waist. Pulling her in close, he locked their lips and breath in the air he had in his lungs into Imahanas. Kotaro could taste the salt water in her mouth. Parting his lips from hers she showed no sign of waking up anytime soon. So he just quickly swam up to the surface where the others were waiting for him. When hitting the first breath of air, Kotaro quickly swam to the dock and held Imahana up. Sasuke and Saizo grabbed onto her and laid her down on her back. Goemon helped Kotaro up and he ran up to her. Putting his ear to her chest, he tried to hear for a pulse.

"She doesn't have a pulse." Positioning his hands on her chest, he does CPR on Imahana. They all watched Kotaro go into a panic as he tried to save Imahana.

After several pushes, Imahana starts choking up the water that she swallowed. Spitting it all up she still laid on the ground motionless.

"Imahana!" Kotaro hears for a heartbeat again. "She's getting her heart going again. But it's slow." He breaths out a sigh of relief and so do the others around him.

"The boat is here." Saizo looks back and sees a boat glide into the port. "Get her and lets go." Kotaro looks down at the motionless girl and lightly picks her up and walks onto the boat.

"What happened?" Sasuke asks Hanzo before stepping onto the dock of the boat.

"I don't know."

"Mmmm..." Imahana opened her heavy eyelids after some time of being unconscious.

When opening her eyes she saw herself laid down on a futon in what seems to be a room for a captain. Then remembering that they were going somewhere by boat, she opened her eyes wide and jumped out of the futon. Running to the door, she turns the knob and opens the door wide open. The bright sun blinded her as she stepped through the doorway and onto the dock. When getting her eyes focused on the scenery in front of her, she paused. Her eyes widened and she started to shake. Getting her legs to finally move she walked to the edge of the large boat and stares out in the open waters. Away from civilization.

Imahana started having a hard time breathing again and held her chest. She was isolated. Alone. And abandoned. She steps back away from the wall and ran back into the room she was just in. Slamming the door behind her, she leaned against the door and steadied her breathing. Sliding down the door and pulling her knees into her chest. She still felt herself shaking and was wondering why she felt like that. She was an amazing swimmer, is always in places that are opened and endless, and isn't really afraid of anything but death.

" _What's wrong with me?"_

*Knock knock*

She heard the door behind her knock and she raised her head.

"Who is it?" She didn't know why she asked but she felt like she had to.

"It's Kotaro. Can I come in?" Imahana hesitated before standing up and getting a hold of the doorknob.

"Hi." She greeted him in a hushed voice and didn't look up at his eyes. And also because she didn't want to look at the opened horizon in front of her.

"Hey Imahana. You okay?" Kotaro walks into the room and shuts the door behind him.

"Yeah. Fine." She was still speaking quietly and still was looking down at the ground.

"Imahana. I'm worried. You've been unconscious for six hours already." He held her shoulders and her head shot up.

"Six hours?!" Kotaro nods.

"I came to check up on you and when I saw you run back into the room, I got worried." He lightly places his hand on her left cheek and she leans up against it. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Was all she could answer. She didn't know an answer to a simple question.

Kotaro pulled her into a gentle embrace and kissed the top of her head. "At least you're safe and alive."

 _"Not sure about the safe part, but I am alive."_ Imahana thought to herself.

"Land!" Sasuke jumps off the edge of the boat onto the dock, not waiting for the sailors to put down the plank from the boat to the dock. "Thank you!" Then he hugs and starts kissing the sand.

"What the hell?" Saizo walks onto the dock and frowns at Sasuke.

"Sasuke. I don't think that's sanitary." Goemon walks up to Sasuke who was still kissing the ground. He stops kissing the sand and stands up while spitting out the sand in his mouth.

"Salty."

"Feeling better?" Kotaro walks off the plank onto the dock with Imahana wobbling behind him.

"Two days on a boat, I think I need to learn to balance on flat ground." She get on the dock and wobbles just while standing still.

"You'll get your land legs soon." Kotaro smiles and shakes his head.

"Saizo, how are we getting to the village?" Sasuke asks.

"It's just down the beach from here." Saizo points past Sasuke and down the coastline. "It will take a few hours on foot."

"Speaking of which, where's Akatsuki?" Just as Imahana asks that, she heard a familiar sound in the water. Looking down, she saw Akatsuki in the water splashing around and rearing up. It looked like he was enjoying the swim.

"He must have jumped off the boat." Kotaro and Imahana walk off the dock and onto the sand looking out at Akatsuki enjoying the warm water.

"Akatsuki!" Imahana calls for him and he looks over to her. Then trotting out of the water over to her, she shakes himself off and gets Kotaro and Imahana wet. "Wanna go swimming?"

"*niegh*!" Akatsuki rears up and bobs his up and down, like he wanted to.

"Let's go!" She jumps on his back and hold out a hand for Kotarp.

"What?" He looks at her curiously.

"Wanna go swimming?" She asks him.

"Sure." He gets a hold of her hand and jumps on behind her.

Kicking Akatsuki into a canter, they head for the water again. Akatsuki didn't wait for a command and just jumped into the water. Both Imahana and Kotaro get splashed and laughed as Akatsuki jumps and digs in the water. He was meaning to get them both wet. He wants them to be soaked. So he goes in a little deeper in the water and without any warning, lays down in the water making Imahana and Kotaro fall in. They laughed as they got soaked and so was the black and white paint. He rolled around and gets up and out of the water onto the sand near the other three then shakes the water off and gets them wet.

"Akatsuki!" All three say in a unison.

"Now we all have to change." Saizo complained.

"Wait!" Sasuke runs into the water and does a cannonball.

"Oh my god." Saizo grabs his bag and goes back onto the boat to change.

"I'll just dry off right here." Goemon snaps his fingers and was then engulfed by flames. After a few seconds, the fire around him died down and he was completely dry.

"Let's go and get changed." Imahana says and takes Kotaro's hand. Leading him out of the water.

When they all got changed, Akatsuki was already dry from being in the sun and was waiting for Imahana. They started walking down the shore line with Imahana and Kotaro on the horse.

"I can't believe you two get to ride a horse." Sasuke pouted while looking up at the couple.

"He's my horse and he decides who he wants to ride him. And I love horses." Imahana pats Akatsuki on the neck as he bobs his head up and down.

"I bet I could ride him." Sasuke started to sound a little cocky as he watched the horse.

"Haha. Did you forget that he is wild?" Goemon laughed.

"And I can't remember the last time you rode a horse." Saizo adds on.

"Oh I've ridden plenty of horses in my life. Scoot over." Sasuke starts shooing them off the horse and they both get off. Once he got on his back, Akatsuki starts bucking violently and rearing like crazy. Because there was no saddle or bridle, he barely stayed on for eight seconds before landing flat on his back. "Ow."

"Oh, you've ridden plenty of horses in your life." Saizo says sarcastically as he walks past him.

"You okay Sasuke?" Imahana walks over to him and looks down.

"How do you ride that horse?" Still on the ground, he rubs his head and looks towards Akatsuki.

"One. She rides horses." Kotaro says.

"And two. Akatsuki only lets me ride him." Imahana rubs the horse's nose as he walks up to her.

"But doesn't Kotaro ride him?" Goemon points at Kotaro in confusion.

"No. He rides with me. Which is fine with him. He can't ride alone."

"I would like to see what happens to Kotaro if he rides that wild beast." Goemon starts chuckling out loud.

Kotaro, who didn't mind falling off the 16h.h. horse, swings up and gets into position as he held onto the mane of the horse. Akatsuki didn't move a muscle as they all waited to see what happens.

"See. Nothing happens." Goemon says disappointed.

Kotaro lets his guard down and let's go of the horse's mane. As his hands let loose, Akatsuki rears straight up high and Kotaro falls off his back and onto the ground.

"Shit." Kotaro cussed as he stood up.

"You jinxed it." Imahana looks at Goemon who was laughing really hard.

"That was high." Kotaro rubs his lower back and looks up at the horse.

"I can stay on it." Imahana jumps onto Akatsuki next and leans way forward. Then letting her arms out to the sides she gives him a command. "Hike up!" And he rears up as high as he did with Kotaro. Imahana stays on him leaning all the way forward and keeping her balance with her stretched out arms.

"Holy shit." Sasuke looks at Imahana and Akatsuki and drops his mouth open.

"Incredible." Saizo was watching the whole thing quietly behind the group. And Kotaro watched her with amazement.

"Good boy!" Imahana pets Akatsuki on the neck and hugs it. "It's been a long time since I've felt so much power. It's giving me a rush!"

"Um... Imahana." Sasuke ruins the moment.

"Yeah?"

"We need to get going." Saizo starts walking again with the group behind him.

After a few hours of walking, they have finally arrived at the village. It seemed empty as they walked through the streets until they spotted some kids running in a certain direction.

"Hey kids?" Sasuke gets their attention and they stop.

"Yeah?" One of the boys asks.

"Where is everyone?"

"They are all watching the horse show in the middle of town." Imahana perks at the sound of the horse show.

"They have those here?!" She shouts.

"Yeah. We're on our way there. You can follow us." No one objected with that and followed the group of boys.

Once they got to the arena, they walked inside and found some spots. Imahana asked if Akatsuki would be placed in the stable and was given some hay. They took him there but she wouldn't stop getting this feeling in her that made her think something was gonna happen. But she just shook it off.

 _"You're having that feeling, aren't you?"_ Imahana heard a familiar voice in her head.

"Yes. But what's gonna happen?" She asked quietly.

 _"That I don't know my child."_ Then it disappeared.

As she tried to think of a reason she saw a familiar figure inside the arena. She stood up fiercely and leaned over the rail.

"No way!"

Akatsuki was being whipped on the rear because he wasn't behaving nicely. He had a bridle on him and a saddle. Akatsuki has never had a saddle on and he kept trying to kick at it. He was bucking wildly as the man kept whipping at his rear. Then finally he kicked the man in the stomach and got out of his grip. Galloping around, Akatsuki was looking for a way out as some men ran in and cornered him. One, Imahana saw had a shocker, which was used to make the horse be knocked out. He was close to Akatsuki and he wouldn't move from where he was. Imahana then shouted out.

"Don't touch him!" She jumped over the railing and into the arena.

"Imahana!" Kotaro tried to hold her back but she was to fast and ran towards the group of men.

"Stay back woman! This is a dangerous creature." Says one of the men.

"No he isn't! He's my horse!" Imahana gets through the crowd and to her horse. "Easy boy." He calmed down a little but was still a little jumpy. Imahana went to the saddle and unclipped the sinch and threw the saddle away from them.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Imahana didn't answer the man and went to unclip the bridle.

"Won't be needing this." She threw the bridle at one of the men and he caught it.

"There is no way you can ride that crazy horse without the tack."

"Watch me." Getting a hold of the long mane, she swung herself onto his back. Imahana sitting on the back of Akatsuki looked way taller then the men in front of them. She let go of his mane and walked to the middle of the arena. "You want a show," She looked around the stadium. "I'll give you one!"

"Oh my gosh." All four of the ninjas on the other side of the rail say in a unison.

Imahana looked around the wide arena and saw some jumps laid out and some patterns put out and she knew she was gonna put on the greatest show ever. Starting out at the walk she walked around the arena so Akatsuki saw all the things in there, then kicking his up in a trot, she posted without her hands and just the bounce of the horse. She already saw the peoples face on how this horse that bucked violently five minutes ago was doing a beautiful dressage trot. Then kicking him up to a collected canter, she put her hands behind her back and deep seated. Then queuing him again, he galloped on the perimeter of the arena and she stretched out her arms.

Kotaro watched her closely until he felt something move in his breast pocket. When looking, he saw Jojo sitting there impatiently to get out. When he took him out, Jojo escaped his grip and flew down near Imahana. When spotting him, she stretched out her hand higher and Jojo landed on her hand with his wings still spread out. Then giving out a screech, he flew towards Kotaro again and everyone started applauding. She stopped at the middle again and shouted out.

"You haven't seen anything yet!"

Looking at one of the jumps, she picks up the canter and heads towards it. She had her fingers tied into his mane leans forwards as he jumped the jump.

"Raise the jump!" The group of men were still in the corner of the arena and when she yelled at them to do that, they quickly ran to the set up jump and raised it two holes. Imahana again canters around and to the jump. Jumping it and landing it smoothly. Applause was heard everywhere. The men raised the jump again and she again cleared the jump. She slows down Akatsuki and walks up to the men.

"I want you to put up the highest jump you have." They gasp and looked at each other. "Now." They ran out of the arena and came out with a jump the was eight and a half feet high. Imahana couldn't help but smirk as it was put up. "We can do this boy." Akatsuki nods his head.

Once the jump was set, she picked up the canter and circled the arena. When she turns towards the jump Akatsuki immediately picks up the gallop and focused on the jump. Imahana let go of the horse's mane and leans all the way forward. This isn't like the other jumps she has jumped. This is only a once in a lifetime jump that is a challenge. And she is taking that challenge. She stretched out her arms and was ready for the jump. Akatsuki left the ground and glided over the jump. Nothing part of the horse even micro touched the jump as he went over it. Imahana leans back as Akatsuki got to the other side of the fence and was close to landing. They finally landed and it was a bouncy land. Imahana kept her hands out and shouted out in accomplishment. There was applause everywhere. Imahana was so happy that she and her horse has done something so incredible. She felt power from the horse and she loved it. Going down into the walk to a halt, she stood up on Akatsukis back and bowed to everyone before leaving the arena.

This was the best day of her life.


	13. No Cure

**Authors Note: it's a short chapter but I don't care.**

Chapter 13: No Cure

Imahana was waiting outside of the stadium in the back waiting for the guys. As she sat on Akatsukis back, she fed him some carrots and kept petting his neck.

"What took you so long?" She asked as she looked up at the four men walking towards her.

"We were looking for you." Goemon replied.

"You disappeared on us." Saizo added on.

"That was awesome!" Sasuke shouts out.

"Amazing." And Kotaro says as a quiet man.

"One; I didn't disappear on you guys. And two; that was awesome and amazing." Imahana says to them as she pats Akatsukis withers.

"What are you all doing here?" The five heard a voice behind them and look back to see Hanzo standing there with a confused look.

"We just came back from a horse show!" Imahana and Sasuke reply in a unison and Hanzo looks at them still confused.

"Okay." He raised an eyebrow at them.

"What do you need Master Hanzo?" Saizo asked Hanzo.

"Remember when Imahana almost drowned at the port to take us to Kishi Village?" Everyone but Imahana nodded. "Well I found a doctor who knows about things like this and thinks she has a phobia. We're meeting with him soon and he wants to find out what she has." Everyone again nods but Imahana, who was still petting Akatsuki.

"What are we doing?" She looks up clueless of her surroundings and everyone stares back at her. "What?"

"Why aren't you listening?" Saizo says in disgust.

"So you must be Imahana." When everyone went to the clinic to meet the doctor, he greeted them with a smile and shook Imahanas hand.

"Yes, I am." She shook his hand and returned the smile.

"My name is Ren and Hanzo has told me some problems that you have been in."

"Yes, but I really don't remember much of what I experienced." She shook her head.

"Let me take some tests." He turned away from them and walked into a different room.

"What kind of tests?" Sasuke asks.

"Beats me." Goemon shrugged his shoulders.

"Mental and physical tests." Ren came back into the room carrying some equipment.

"What are those?" Hanzo looked at his curiously.

"This is a case." He held out a box that was covered with a cloth.

"And what is in the case?" Sasuke asked, a little suspicious.

Ren pulls the cloth off the top and out comes a palm sized tarantula. When see this Sasuke screamed like a girl, Saizo and Goemon took a step back, Hanzo shuts Sasuke up, and Kotaro stiffened. But nothing happened to Imahana. She just walked up to the giant spider and allowed it to walk onto her hand.

"Hey little guy." Imahana pet the spider with her pointer finger and put it near her face.

"Well she doesn't have arachnophobia." He takes the spider away from Imahana and puts it back into the case and covers it again. Then taking out a dagger, he holds it up to her face and examines her reaction. She didn't have any reaction to it and just had a straight face. "And she doesn't have aichmophobia." He put the dagger away and looks back at Hanzo. "Anything else happened at that time?"

"She was looking out at the water." Sasuke said first.

"She was also hyperventilating and was shaking like crazy." Kotaro also added on.

"Water?" Ren looks out of the clinics window and then back to the group. "I think I might know what she has, but I need to test it out first." Imahanas eyes widened like she knew what he was gonna do. But trying to calm herself down, she quietly took deep breaths.

"Why are we blindfolding her?" Sasuke waves his hand in front of Imahanas covered eyes and looked up to the doctor.

"So she won't freak before I even start the test." They all stood at the end of a dock looking out at the ocean. It was a beautiful sight, but Ren knew, it was gonna scare Imahana.

"What do you mean?" Saizo looked out curiously.

"Watch and learn. And don't do anything." They all stood behind Imahana and the doctor before he removed the blindfold. Then stepping back, they waited for a reaction from her. Nothing happened until she spoke.

"You're trying to kill her, aren't you?" Imahana turned around and everyone saw the red eyes.

"Kiko."

"Why did you interfere with the test?" Hanzo annoyingly asked.

"And what do you mean "kill her"?" Kotaro also asked.

He smirked. "She has autophobia. A fear of being isolated. Just leaving her in a room by herself will cause her a heart attack."

"How do you know?" Goemon was also annoyed with him.

"I had this problem too. She must have inherited from me." He shrugged like it was nothing. But it was a big something.

"Well now that you told us, we don't have to do the test." But Saizo spoke too soon.

"We're doing this test." Ren glared at Kiko. "I want to test out and see what her reaction will be when she sees and feels isolated. It's like when she was looking back at the water, she saw nothing and no one."

"Fine. Kill her. But just remember," He said in a dark tone in Imahanas voice. "Killing her will bring the war to eternity." Then turning back around, it was silent again. The ninjas were shocked at what he has just said. They didn't believe that this would kill her. Until,

"STOP IT!" They turned and saw Imahana clenching her head and staring out at the wide, open sea. She kept shaking her head repeatedly and finally fell on her hands and knees.

She was feeling dizzy and nauseous and held her stomach. She looks up at the scene again and started shaking to the bone and had a hard time breathing. Imahana held her throat and wasn't able to take her eyes off of anything in front of her. She kept screaming in pain and no one did anything to interfere with this test, but they all tried to not help her. She shook hard and her heart rate was skyrocketing and she was close to having a heart attack. When finally something inside her flipped something off and she passed out right there. No one moved. No one even dared to breath.

"Something isn't right." Kotaro ran up to her and turned her to lay on her back. Then placing his ear to her chest, he tried to find a heartbeat. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard a few slow beats. "She's still alive."

"That's what a reaction would be?" Ren didn't do anything, but just stared at the scene in front of him.

"We're done with your tests." Kotaro said sternly and picked Imahana up and cradled her in his arms. He walked past everyone and up to Akatsuki, who lay on the grass. When seeing him and Imahana, he stood up halfway until he got on him, then standing up all the way and walking away. "You'll be okay." Kotaro said to her and kissed Imahana on the forehead before heading back to the inn.


	14. Goodbye Kiko

_"Where am I?"_

Imahana opened her eyes to a sight of darkness. But it wasn't like a darkness in the night. More like she was underwater. In the middle of nowhere. She felt like she was floating in dense air. Her hair was all over the place, her kimono wrapped around her arms and legs, and most of all, she couldn't breath. She couldn't breath! But her breathing was the least of her problems.

Where was she? She looked up, down, left, right, behind her, in front of her. She didn't see anything. It was dark. Open. Deserted. Empty. Isolated. She felt that. Isolated. She panicked when she thought that to herself.

 _"Am I alone?"_ She kept looking around. _"I was isolated?"_ Her heart was pounding. Her breathing became hard. She felt herself loose the oxygen in her lungs and she held her chest. She closed her eyes and started to shake violently.

 _"You're okay."_ She heard a voice in her head. A very familiar voice in her head. _"Calm down Imahana."_ Was that in her head? Opening her eyes, she stared in surprise at who she saw in front of her.

 _"Kiko?"_ Kiko smiled at her as she said his name. Then slightly nodding, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and felt her start to calm down.

 _"You're alright Imahana. I'm here for you."_

 _"How aren't you having a hard time breathing?"_ She looked up at Kiko and looked at him quizzically.

 _"Breath."_ Listening to him, Imahana inhaled and found out that she was underwater, but she was breathing normally.

 _"How?"_

 _"You're unconscious right now. This is like the place you go when you are in this condition."_ He calmly explained to Imahana, telling her where she was.

 _"Where's Kotaro?"_ She asked worried. But Kiko just stared down at her not answering.

 _"He's alright, Imahana. He's just worried about you."_ Imahana heard a third voice and looks back to see Cho with her white flowing hair and glowing white eyes.

 _"Cho?"_

 _"What are you doing here Cho?"_ Kiko asked her annoyingly, but she just kept walking towards them two.

 _"I was just coming and seeing how my little Imahana is doing."_ She came up to Imahana and looked down at her.

 _"Leave her alone Cho."_ Kiko gave a warning glance to Cho and pulled Imahana behind him.

 _"Aw, why?"_ Cho does some puppy dog eyes as she looked at Kiko. _"I never hurt her once. In fact, I actually helped her."_

 _"By giving her my power?"_ Imahana looked at the two confused as they kept talking.

 _"Ya know, I thought I helped her. But I didn't. I made it worse."_ Cho glares at Kiko and he reflects the stare.

 _"How did you make it worse?"_ Kiko also looked confused as he asked.

 _"You giving her power. It's killing her."_ She replied bluntly. Imahana gasps as she heard this.

 _"What do you mean?!"_ She ran in front of Kiko but he caught her by the arm before she got any further.

 _"Your grandfather here,"_ She pointed to Kiko and slightly smirked. _"He almost killed you."_

 _"I did no such thing!"_ Kiko argued back.

 _"Oh, so you mean when she was stabbed in the gut and bleeding out, you don't call that killing?!"_

 _"She survived!"_

 _"The war is still going on!"_ Cho walked closer to Kiko and went up in his face. _"Are you gonna keep trying to kill her until she dies?!"_ Kiko hesitated before he answered her back.

 _"I'm not killing her. I'm protecting her because her parents are dead and she has no other family."_ He talked quietly and looked down at Imahana, who was listening to the conversation between them two.

 _"Tch. I totally call that protecting."_ She took a few steps back and puts her hands on her hips. "I suggest that you leave her body."

 _"I'm not leaving her body. I will protect her when danger comes in. With my life!"_

 _"Did you forget?"_ Cho asked in a monotone.

 _"Huh?"_

 _"You don't have a life anymore."_ She walks up to Imahana and points at her heart. _"Your life is her life."_ There was a silence between them three before Imahana spoke up.

 _"Will he have to leave?"_ Kiko looked at her stunned with her question, but Cho just nodded her head silently.

 _"I don't want to leave you."_ Kiko walked up to Imahana and gave her a tight hug before letting go. _"But if it is true that I am killing you while trying to protect you, then I will have to leave."_

 _"You're not protecting. You get too tied up with your time in the war that when fighting comes in, you just take action yourself, forgetting that you're really Imahana."_ Cho walked up next to Kiko and placed a hand on his shoulder.

 _"Who's gonna protect her now if I'm gone?"_

 _"Kotaro will. He puts down his life for me and will protect me till the end."_ Imahana says to her grandfather.

 _"I trust that man myself."_ Saying this made her smile. _"If you say he will protect and love you then I won't be needed."_

 _"Thank you Kiko."_ Imahana says to him before he dissolved into the darkness.

 _"You should wake up soon."_ Cho says after a few moments of silence.

 _"Cho?"_ Imahana looks back at the woman.

 _"Hm?"_

 _"What happened between you and Kotaro?"_ Cho looked at her in surprise before looking down and sighs.

 _"He didn't tell you, did he?"_ Imahana shook her head. _"When we were kids, I used to make fun of him for his white hair, and how he never talked much. I would always pull pranks on him. Like putting a lizard or snake in his belongings. Until one day, I think I took it too far. I snuck around the headmans mansion when a banquet was going on. I was climbing through the second story window when someone grabbed me. Looking back, Kotaro tried to get me to come down and to go home. I kept refusing and finally pulled out a snake from my pocket that I keep around just in case. Kotaro freaked and lost his balance. Then he fell off the roof and hit the ground. It wasn't a soft landing. He became unconscious and broke a few bones. I fled the scene, leaving him there. A while later, I'm guessing someone found him and started accusing him of trying to break into the headmans home. And that was after they put on the casts. He wasn't able to train for eight weeks and he has been pissed at me for doing that to him."_ She paused for a moment and looked at Imahana, who was listening carefully. _"He's hated me since then. He was pretty happy when I went to prison, but when I saw him after all these years. I bet he hates me more than ever. That's why I saved him at the mansion back at the Yasu Village. I don't want him to hate me anymore. But it's too late to tell him that."_

 _"I could tell him."_ Imahana told her, but Cho just shook her head.

 _"You don't need to. Not anymore."_

 _"But…"_

 _"Don't. It will be between us that you know about this. Got it?"_ Imahana nods. _"Great. Now, you have to wake up. Kotaro's getting worried."_

 _"Alright. Thank you Cho."_ Imahana gave Cho a hug and bowed before dissolving into darkness.

Then a few seconds later, opening her eyes to the sight of a ceiling. Her vision was blurry as she tried to focus around the room. Looking to her left, she saw the window open and the night sky out. It looked to be late at night. Then turning to her right, she saw a lantern on. Looking like it has been glowing for a while. And a tray of untouched food and some medicine. And with a bucket of cold water and a stack of towels next to it. Placing a hand on her head, she felt a cool, damp towel on her forehead. It felt like that towel was recently placed there by how damp it still was and that it was pretty cool. Sitting up, she took the towel off of her forehead and hung it on the edge of the bucket. Leaning over, she poured herself a cup of the herbal the tea that was on the tray and sipped on it. A few minutes later, she heard the sliding door open and looked up to see Kotaro standing there with another tray with warm food on it and some more herbs. When seeing Imahana, he quickly shut the door, put down the tray and gave her a tight hug.

"Oh my god. I thought you were gonna be unconscious forever." He said in a quiet voice as he hugged Imahana tighter and tighter.

"Hey, Kotaro." Imahana tapped his arm and he released her from his tight embrace but she was still in his arms.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." She returned his embrace and it was silent between them for a few moments until Kotaro had to break it up.

"How are you feeling?" He held her by the shoulders lightly and placed his forehead onto hers, making her slightly blush.

"I'm fine. Thank you for taking care of me." She leaned back a little bit and Kotaro sat on the floor next to her futon.

"I had to. That experiment that Doctor Ren did on you was fatal. You passed out in the end and was close to heart attack." Kotaro took the empty cup in Imahanas hands and filled it with other herbs.

"I didn't think it was that bad." She took the cup from him and sipped on it.

"You don't remember?" He looked at her curiously as she shook her head.

"I don't remember much. I remember screaming in darkness. There was no right, left, up, down. Just pure darkness. I felt alone. Isolated. Abandoned." Imahanas eyes started to water as she remembered feeling alone.

"It's okay. I'm here." Kotaro again embraced Imahana and cradled her. Pulling her in his lap and rocking her back and forth like a little child. She softly cried on his chest for a few minutes as he stroked her back to comfort her. When she calmed down, he looked down at her face and lifted it with his finger to make her look at him. "You okay?"

She nods. "Yeah." Kotaro slightly smiled at her reply and leaned down, giving her a sweet kiss. "Kotaro." Imahana says his name softly and sweetly, making Kotaro get turned on. That slight little part they had was closed up again with another kiss by Kotaro. Only harder this time.

Imahana moaned in the kiss as Kotaro kept licking and biting her lower lip. She had her lips partly opened, but he didn't slide his tongue in her mouth. Imahana started getting annoyed with his teasing so she slid her tongue into his mouth and looked for his tongue. When finding it, their tongues intertwined and danced together. Then pulling his tongue into her mouth, he explored his territory and rubbed Imahanas tongue against his. Finally parting their lips, a strand of mixed saliva connected the two. Kotaro gently laid Imahana on the futon and pinned her arms to the side. Coming down again, he kissed her lips softly. Then again but with more passion until they were kissing passionately. Then kissing her on the jaw bone down to her neck, he automatically knew where her sweet spot was and sucked and bit on it, making Imahana moan.

"Kotaro..ah.." Imahana pulls her head back as Kotaro bit on her neck.

"Hehe. Keep making sounds like that." He giggled as he went lower to her collar.

Taking his hands off her wrists, he unties the sash of Imahanas kimono and opened it to expose her to him. Taking his time to look at her naked body, he smiles and whispers.

"You look gorgeous." Saying this made Imahana go red and to look away from him. Making him chuckle again.

Going down to her body again, he slid his tongue down from the nape of her neck to her right breast. Then covering her nipple with his mouth, he sucked and bit at it lightly as he played with the other breast with his hand. Imahana lets out quiet moans as she felt her pleasure building up in her and felt herself getting wet in her lower area. Kotaro switched breasts and was now biting and sucking on the left as he was playing with her right breast. Kotaro was feeling himself harden as Imahana kept moaning in a sweet voice. Just wanted to go hard on her but he kept pulling back from that thought because of the condition she was in. He ran his hand down her stomach to her lower area and felt how wet she was. He could help but smirk.

"You're wet." He looked up at her and saw Imahana bite her lower lip. He just couldn't help but tease her. Sliding his finger to her clit, he lightly rubbed it making her push her head back and moan out loud.

"Kotaro! Ah!" Imahana didn't feel like being teased and wanted Kotaro in her. Right now. "Stop teasing."

"Why?" He knew she wanted him. She always does.

"Just, ah." He kept rubbing her clit and pinching it.

"Just what?"

"Just fuck me!" She didn't care that she blurted it out. She wanted him in her.

"If I do the I'm going to have to go hard on you." He said to her as he started undressing himself.

"I don't care." She said back to him bluntly.

"Alright." After undressing, he got on top of Imahana and pinned her arms above her head. Then placing himself at her entrance, he quietly whispered into her ear. "Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Then slamming into her hard. So hard Imahana arched her back, pushed her head back and flexed her feet. She was wet enough that nothing would tear or scrape, but the pain came from how big and hard Kotaro's member was and him hitting the spot on his first try. She screamed when he dug into her, and she had to adjust to his large size. Only waiting a few seconds, he started thrusting harder into Imahana as she kept screaming. She hasn't adjusted to his size yet and felt pressure in her. But the pain was finally turning into pleasure as he started speeding up the pace. Kotaro pumped into Imahana at an inhuman speed making her bounce to every push in her. He hit the g-spot every time he went deep into her, making her moans loud. After a little bit, Imahana was feeling something in her start to uncoil and untie. She also felt the walls in her start to tighten. Kotaro's member was also throbbing and was about to release.

"Imahana!" Kotaro shouts out her name as he was about to cum inside of Imahana.

"KOTARO!" Imahana screams. Arching her back, she released onto him a large amount. She has never let out so much, it practically drained her.

Kotaro also let out a large amount into her. He collapsed next to Imahana with his member still inside of her. Both breathing heavily, Kotaro pulled himself out of Imahana and laid down next to her. Pulling her into his embrace then kissing her forehead. Taking the blanket, he covered them both before drifting off into an unconscious state.


	15. What A Coincidence

Waking up the next morning, Imahana found herself in bed alone. Sitting up in bed, she held the blanket to her chest to cover her naked body and looked around. Outside, it was still early in the morning as she heard the birds chirping. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned and got up to get dressed. Finding a different kimono lying on the ground, folded, she picked it up and looked at it. It was her size so she thought it would have been for her. It was a sky blue with black and white floral designs. Putting it on, it fit like a glove and suited her nicely. As she examined herself in the full body mirror, the sliding door opened and came into the room was Kotaro. He carried a tray of breakfast for the both of them.

"Oh, you're up." He said as he saw her next to the mirror.

"Well I wouldn't want to stay in bed all day you know." She giggled.

"Hm. That kimono looks nice on you." He looked her from head to toe as she spun around in the kimono.

"Thank you. I love it." She says.

"That's good. I picked it out myself." Kotaro sat on the floor with the tray of food and Imahana joined him.

"You have a nice taste Kotaro. Maybe you should go shopping for me more often than." Imahana said as she picked up the chopsticks.

"It was a special occasion." He says as he picks up a rice ball.

"How was it a special occasion?" Imahana asked him with a full mouth but he just shrugged.

"Uh. I don't know." He held some salmon to his mouth as he thought about it. "But the guys thought it was weird that I did that." Then chewed on the piece of salmon.

"It's not weird, it's cute." Kotaro lightly blushed at Imahanas comment and averted his eyes away from her. She lightly giggled as he got flustered from her words and they continue to eat in silence.

After finishing their breakfast, they went out and took a walk on the beach. It was a quiet morning as they walked on the warm sand. The only sound that was around them were the soft ripples of the rising water. Kotaro and Imahana walked together hand in hand and in silence.

"We will be leaving soon." Kotaro finally broke the silence as he told Imahana the news.

"Where will we be going?" Imahana looked up at Kotaro, who kept looking out at the open sea. Imahana didn't look at the open sea, but just in front of her or down at the sand.

"Somewhere where you won't be harmed." He looked down at her with a soft expression but his eyes showed some worry in them.

"Alright." Imahana smiled back at Kotaro. Then looking back in front of her, she continued to speak. "Maybe head west?"

"Inland? You sure?" Kotaro looked down at her again and questioned.

"Yeah. I actually want to visit the temple I grew up in again. It's been awhile since we left." Imahana smiles as she remembered all the happy events that had happened at the temple. Yet that man wasn't her grandfather, he still loved her like a granddaughter and she loved him like a grandfather.

"Yeah. Actually I was thinking the same thing. I want to ask your grandfather something." Kotaro nodded his head in agreement.

"What do you want to ask him?" She questioned him.

"That, I won't tell you." He says as he winked at her and smiled.

"Hey! Why won't you tell me?" Imahana pouted and tugged at Kotaro's arm like a little child.

"Because it's a secret." He leaned down and kissed Imahana on the lips.

"Hints?" She said as she kissed back.

"Mmmm, nope." Kotaro said teasingly and started walking again.

"Hey! Come on! Just one!" Imahana ran after Kotaro and tried to pursue him to give her a hint.

"The answer is still no." He kept telling her as they kept walking down the shore line.

But on the other hand, we go to Saizo who was taking a walk before they left the village. He just wanted some alone time because he will be stuck with those losers and the Princess for a few more weeks.

He looked straight ahead with his arms crossed over his chest, when suddenly he heard a slight rustle in the bushes. He stopped in his tracks and strained his hearing to listen for the rustle again. After another several moments, he heard the rustle and took out a shuriken from his chest pocket silently and waited for another rustle. Once he heard again, he threw the shuriken into a brush where it sounded like the source of the sound. But it wasn't silent. He heard a slight thump and a shush from someone. Getting curious but also cautious, he slowly walked up to the bush and moved away the leaves to find three teenage boys, each looking to be about 15.

"Who are you three?" He asked them sternly. "And another thing is why are you following me?"

"Oh, Master Saizo!" The three boys stood up and bowed deeply to him. But didn't answer his questions.

"What are you kids doing?" He asked them annoyingly.

"We're sorry we didn't come out of the bushes but we wanted to see if you were as good as they say!" One of the boys said.

"And we also want you to train us! Let us be your followers!" The second boy said and all three of them smiled widely.

 _"Saizo. One of your followers will hang you. But I don't know why."_

Saizo suddenly remembered when Cho told him about their futures. He still doesn't believe it and was telling himself that it's just a coincidence. But he still refused.

"No." And he turned on his heel to leave them.

"What?!" One of the yells.

"Why not?!" The third on cried out.

"Because I'm on an important mission and I don't want to waste my spare time training low lifes like you three." He said harshly at them and left.

"We will try our best!" They ran after him and tried to pursue him into it.

"We promise we will try hard!"

"That answer is still no!" Saizo halted and spun around towards the three. "Now go home and leave me alone!" He started walking away again but then heard hushed voices of the three boys.

"You know, things would have been a lot easier if you just came with us." Saizo slowed his pace and heard light steps. Like ninja steps. Then he noticed that they were undercover Shinobu ninjas.

 _"So that's what she meant."_ He thought as he took out his sickle and chain and started attacking the three ninjas.

Goemon walked around the tiny village after he had all his things ready. Some of the village girls were calling out to him and trying to act seductively towards him. But he just coolly smiled handsomely and gave them air kisses, making the girls drool and squeele more. But as he walked passed an alleyway, someone caught his eye, making him stop and look back. Seeing a sexy woman standing against a building, she had long black hair and seductive green eyes. She had heavy makeup on her face and her kimono was more open on the top to show off her large breasts.

She made a quick contact with Goemon as their eyes met and she smiled, knowing that she got his attention. She graciously walked into the alleyway, making Goemon entranced with her and he followed her down the alleyway. As she turned the corner, Goemon started having his cautious ninja sense but just threw it to the back of his head as he shook his head quickly. Turning the corner, he was pushed against the wall and felt a sharp edge slide against his neck.

"Surprised you fell if that, Goemon Ishikawa." He heard the female's voice and he suddenly recognized it.

"Well you know me with woman, Hinami Shogiko." Hinami was a female assassin he once slept with on a mission.

She never knew that he was an elite ninja, but when she did, she had the will to kill him since that day. She was thirteen and he was seventeen when he used her, so with that, she wanted revenge on him for that.

 _"You will die from seducing a prostitute. She is paid to assassinate you."_

He remembered what Cho said about it. About what was happening right now. She knew he wouldn't listen to his senses to the danger.

 _"I gotta hand it to her,"_ He thought to himself and smiled. "She really does see the future."

"What's so funny?" Hinami asks sternly. But before she got an answer from him, he spun around quickly and punched her on the cheek, making her fall to the ground.

"Still can't fight, huh?" Goemon looked down at her with a wicked grin. She looks up at him again and growled at him as she got up again and took out a short dagger.

"I can fight as good as you!" She charged at him with amazing speed and tried to attack him. But he easily blocked her attack.

"No you can't." Goemon summons some fire from the palm of his left hand and grabbed her wrist, making her scream in pain and escape from his grip.

"You son of a bitch!" She held her wrist and felt her skin burn.

"No one is as good as me." He said as he walked up to her with flaming hands.

"Master Hanzo!" Sasuke ran up to Hanzo, who turned around to look at him.

"What is it Sasuke?" He asked.

"Are you getting some weird sense that something isn't right?" Hanzo raised an eyebrow.

"Well now that you mentioned it, yeah." Hanzo nodded at him.

"I just don't know." Sasuke says. "But something feels like the enemy is close by and…" Before he said anything else, Hanzo grabs him and throws him to the floor.

"Look out!" And the empty air where Sasuke stood before was passed by an arrow.

"An arrow?" Sasuke and Hanzo looked at the arrow sticking out of the ground.

"They're here." Hanzo narrowed his eyes and searched the nearby trees as he stood up.

"That's what our senses were telling us." Sasuke stood up and slide out his claws from his gloves.

As they focused on their surroundings, more arrows were shot towards them in every direction. Hanzo and Sasuke dodged and sliced the arrows in the air, until Sasuke fell to the ground and screamed as blood ran down his arm.

 _"You are gonna die from a poisonous arrow in your arm."_

 _"No! This isn't happening!"_ He shouted at himself.

"Sasuke!" Hanzo threw his good arm over his shoulder and took him to get cover.

"What is your reason for trying to kill me?" Goemon asked Hinami harshly as he held her by the neck against the wall.

"I was paid," She choked up.

"By who?!"

"Someone who I can't say." She revealed a smirk on her face before taking a small, poisonous needle from her sleeve and stabbed it into Goemon's arm, making him scream and drop to the ground. "But it's also revenge!" Hinami kicked him on the stomach and be fell on him back.

"Can you two do any better?" Saizo rolled his eyes as he effortlessly dodged and blocked the two ninja attacks towards him.

One of them threw a shuriken at Saizo, but as his arm was stretched out Saizo quickly tossed the chain and wrapping it around his wrist, pulling him towards him. Than making his sickle slice off his head. The second ninja attacked him with his swords but Saizo threw his own shuriken to him and got him in the throat.

As he stood in front of a decapitated body and a struck throat limp body, he noticed an odd difference.

"Were there three?" He asked out loud as he recounted. Before he could do anything else, he felt a rope fall around his neck and tighten as he felt his feet leaving the ground.

"Ahh!" Imahana clenched her head as she fell on her knees on the sand.

"Imahana! Are you alright?!" Kotaro leaned down in front of her but she only replied with more screams. "Imahana!" He shouted at her as he shook her shoulders. But after a moment, she went silent. "Imahana?" His eyes widened as she look up at him.

"It's Cho. For your information."


	16. The Final Battle

**Author's Note: YAY! I'm finally done with this book and I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thank you for all your reviews and favorites. I appriciate it so much guys. Thank you and enjoy the end of this chapter.**

"Why are you inside her body?!" Kotaro shouted at Imahana's taken over body as he took a step away from her.

"Because you have no idea what is going on right now!" Cho replied bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"Your comrades are being killed right now by some of the under cover shinobi ninjas. Saizo being hung, Sasuke has an arrow in his arm, Goemon is being tortured by a prostitute, and Hanzo's father is on his way here to kill Hanzo." Imahanas now cloudy white eyes were staring Kotaro dead in the eye as she explained.

"Why aren't you helping them?" He asked.

"I'm dead." She answered with an annoyed sigh. And before Kotaro could ask an obvious question, she answered him. "I have been in her head for a while. I knew this day would come. And it isn't easy going into an unfamiliar body ya know." Cho explained.

"Why are we still standing here than! We have to help them!" Kotaro ran past Cho and was about to enter the forest before he heard a hushed voice behind him.

"Please be careful." Looking back, Imahana's eyes were back to their light blue color and she had a concerned expression on her face.

"I will." He walks back to her and wrapped her around his long, strong arms. When he finally let go of her, Imahana's eyes started clouding again and she spoke in a serious tone.

"Let's go." And both of them ran into the forest to go save Saizo first.

"You know," The young ninja said as he stared up at the struggling Saizo. "It would have been a less painful death if you just cooperated with us."

"Actually, you will have fun being tortured in hell." The young ninja heard behind him before he had a sword go through his stomach. Coughing up blood, he collapsed to the ground and lay there motionless with blood leaking out of his body. Cho threw a knife at the top of the rope and let Saizo loose.

"What took you so long?" Saizo asked in a hoarse voice as he landed on the ground and rubbed his neck.

"No time to explain. We have to go save Goemon." Cho said as she started running towards the village.

"Are you dead yet?" Hinami asked Goemon as he tried to get up from the ground but gets elbowed on the back and falls to the ground again.

"Go to hell." He said.

"Hm. I wish I could, but I wanted you to experience it first." Hinami then took out a long dagger from her sleeve and spun it around. "I just wanted you to feel some of the pain I felt." Then stabbing the dagger into his hand, Goemon screamed out in pain and agony as he felt the torture.

"Goemon isn't taking your place in hell. You are." When she heard a voice behind her, it was too late to see who it was before her head rolled away from her limp body.

"Huh. I actually didn't think that the prostitute wanted revenge against Goemon." Cho said as she held up the dislocated head of the assassin.

"You alright?" Kotaro asked as he help the red ninja up from the ground.

"I just got my hand stabbed by a dagger. Of course I'm alright." He answered sarcastically but also irrably.

"Yeah. I know." Kotaro said with an eyeroll.

"Saizo will be caring for your wounds. Kotaro and I will go save Sasuke and Hanzo's life before his father gets here and Sasuke gets the poison in his body." Cho told Goemon before starting to leave. "Let's go!"

"Sasuke! Can you feel your arm?" Hanzo asked him in a panic.

"It's going numb." Sasuke started feeling drowsy and lightheaded as held his cut arm. His vision was turning blurry and he started skipping in his speech.

"Shit." Cussed Hanzo.

"Sasuke!" Looking up, Hanzo saw Imahana and Kotaro jump down from the top of the building and land a short ways away from them.

"I think we got the rest of them out there." Kotaro reports to Hanzo.

"Good work. But Princess, why are you here?" His answered was a short stare into Imahana's clouded eyes.

"The poison wouldn't have gone through his body much if he has been sitting here for a while." Cho ripped off the end of his long scarf and tightly wrapped it around the top of his arm. "Get him back to where Saizo and Goemon are. They might know where to get an antidote." Cho commanded Kotaro.

"What about you Cho?"

"I'm gonna get my revenge."

"What do you mean?"

"I still want my revenge for my brothers death. Sawao is gonna pay from that." Cho clenched her teeth in anger as she remembered what Hanzo's father did to her little brother. Imahana saw those memories and gasped when she saw that he killed him in front of Cho.

 _"I'm so sorry, Cho."_ She spoke out loud but only in her head, it echoed in the darkness.

 _"It's fine, Imahana. I just want that bastard dead."_ Cho's voice echoed through the cold air.

 _"But how are you gonna fight him? You're in my...body."_ Imahana's eyes widened when she noticed what she was planing.

 _"I'm sorry Imahana. I have to use your body for this."_ Before Imahana could argue any further, Cho cut her off and tried to reassure her. _"I have more training then your grandfather, so you won't get a scratch on you."_ Imahana reluctantly answered her.

 _"Alright. You have my consent."_ Imahana nodded her head before everything went silent again.

"Ha! So you still remember?" Hanzo and Cho turn around to see Sawao Hattori standing a ways away from them with a wide smirk on his face and arms crossed on his chest.

"Father! What are you doing here?" Hanzo looked at him in confusion.

"What do you think? I would have thought that Cho would have told you."

 _"Father kills you."_

 _"What? Why would he kill his only son?!"_

 _"Because you visited me and sent me free. He thinks you want him dead."_

"Why would I want you dead?" Hanzo asked.

"So you do remember?" Sawao let out a wicked laugh before taking a few steps forward. "You let Cho go. You know she was supposed to be sentenced to death just a few days you sent her out free? But, looks like the Shinobi got to her first." When he got some distance away, Hanzo stood in front of Cho in a protective stance. "But looks like we never really got rid of her." Sawao says quietly.

"But how do you know that I'm Cho?" Cho asked Sawao in confusion.

"No one could mistaken your eyes, Berubetto Cho." He said seductively.

"Even when I'm in Imahanas body?"

"Even in a different body."

Cho growled at him. "You disgust me."

"Do I now? I didn't know that I meant something to you." Sawao chuckled darkly.

"I would like to have your head!" Cho was about to jump at him but Hanzo held her back. Making her growl again.

"You know, if you come near me than you're gonna kill the princess."

"I won't let you bring a blade near her."

"How? You're in her body."

"Father! Stop!" Hanzo shouted at Sawao, trying to make him stop talking.

But his eyes only darkened. "You know, you still can't tell me what to do, Hanzo."

"Both sides?" Cho whispers to Hanzo, and he nodded his head. Cho then pulled out a throwing star as a distraction before they did the attack.

Throwing the star at him, Sawao blocked it with his sword but didn't notice Cho and Hanzo coming from both sides of him. They steadied their swords before attacking. But right before they got their swords near him, Sawao used a ninjutsu technique and disappeared into thin air. When Hanzo and Cho landed on the ground and looked around dumbfoundedly, they saw a shadow going in the forestry. They didn't hesitate to follow it.

"Did you know it's harder to spot me in the tree's then when I'm on the ground?" Cho raised an eyebrow because she didn't understand what he meant by that as she stood in the middle of a small clearing.

"Father! Don't!" Hanzo tried to grab Cho but was too late when a shuriken flew straight towards her.

But Cho's senses picked up and she quickly moved away from its path, making it pass through empty space and stick half way out of the ground. That wasn't the end. More knives started coming through the trees from all different directions. Hanzo and Cho were just barely dodging them. Cho, not having a weapon on her, seemed to dance around as she missed every star that passed her body.

"I'm impressed Cho. You haven't lost your touch. Even in the princess's body." Sawao said as he jumped down from a tree not far from where she was standing. Although Cho didn't show it, she was starting to feel weak and didn't think she would be able to fight him for another minute. But, she has to finish him.

"Father, end this now." Hanzo says from behind Cho a ways away.

"What did I just say about that?" Sawao glared back at his son. Making Hanzo have a confused expression on his face.

"But, you didn't say anything."

"Than I will tell you. Stop calling me 'father'."

Hanzo froze. His lips ajar and he stared at him wide eyed. Cho also stared at him surprised. Sawao didn't move a muscle as he stood there, glaring at Hanzo. Neither of them could understand why he said that to his only son.

"How could you say that?" Cho asked him.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sawao said as he looked at Cho. "He set you free and he sent you to kill me. And you also wanted your revenge." Cho frowned at him.

"None of that is true!" Hanzo shouted at him as he came to realization.

"Shut up! You let her out because you wanted to kill me! She got in your brain! That's how you're on her side." He snapped.

"I'm not on her side because I want to kill you! I don't want to kill you!" Snapping back at him, Hanzo took a step forward but was stopped by Cho holding up her hand.

"She doesn't control you?" Sawao raised an eyebrow as he saw him take a step back from her.

"Why do you think she controls use even after we all want to kill you?" Sawao heard a low voice behind him and a sharp blade was held firmly under his neck. His eyes widened when he saw from the corner of his eye that it was the ninjas.

Goemon held his sword under his neck and glared at Sawao. His injured hand was bandaged but he still held some of his throwing knives in them. Sasuke had his arms crossed over his chest but even so, his claws were clearly out. Saizo spun the end of his chain as he stood behind him and glared intensely at him. Mentally torturing him. Lastly, Kotaro stood on the other side of Sawao with a revolver barrel pressed against the skull of his head.

"As a matter of fact, I can control people's minds, but I never did it to them." Cho narrowed her eyes at Sawao as he stood between the two ninjas motionless.

"But this is the perfect moment to test it out on you." Goemon says with a wicked smirk on his face.

"You wouldn't do that. My son would never allow you to." Sawao then lightly chuckled as he again called Hanzo 'son'.

"Who said I was your son?" Hanzo says in a monotone as he walked up next to Cho.

"Didn't you say that he wasn't your son because he let Cho go." Sasuke asked him.

"I didn't mean it!" Sawao says with some panic in his voice. "You know I was kidding, right son?" Hanzo just glared down at him.

"I'm the one killing him, alright?" He finally said to Cho, still staring down at his father.

"Alright." Cho replied as her pale eyes started to glow bright and Imahana's dark hair started fading into a pale white shade.

"Wait!" Sawao shouted out, making Cho stop. "You have no proof that you can prove that will allow you to kill me." Everyone raised an eyebrow.

"You sent three shinobi ninjas to kill me." Saizo stated first.

"You found the assassin who wanted revenge on me and got her to try to kill me." Goemon disclaimed.

"You shot an arrow into my arm." Sasuke added.

"And you shot your weapons at me. Your only son." Hanzo says harshly.

"You'll regret this." Sawao says with a smirk, thinking that he would probably try to convince him or change his mind. But Hanzo made no second thoughts about his bloody murder.

"You'll regret putting me in prison." Cho said as she moved her fingers closer to him. As she held her finger to his forehead, Sawao's stare became glassy and he didn't even blink until Cho removed her finger from his flesh.

"I feel normal." He spoke after a few moments.

"Take your weapons off him." Cho commanded the two, and they both reluctantly did as she said. But when they took a step back from him, he didn't seem to move a muscle.

"What the?" Sawao tried to move, but you could clearly see it on his face. "Why can't I move!?"

"Oh you want to move? Okay." Focusing her mind on him, she made Sawao walk forward.

"Wow!" Sasuke says out loud.

"Goemon, give me your sword." Goemon nodded and gave Sawao the sword. But because Sawao was being controlled by Cho, she made him walk up to Hanzo . Him holding the blade tightly in the palm of his hands.

"Don't do it. You'll bring shame to the Hattori name." Hanzo stared at him, uninterested of his words.

"I won't do it." He finally said, making everyone but Cho gasp out loud. While Sawao silently let out a sigh of relief. "I have my own sword." Pulling out his sword from his sheath and firmly pressing it onto his father's chest. "I want to kill you so badly right now." Than stabbing it into his chest, he let be a through and through. "I won't regret it." Were the last words Sawao heard before he hit the ground motionless. Killed by his own son.

Wiping the blood off of the blade, Hanzo looked at his father's lifeless body and felt somehow satisfied and felt light; mind, body, and spirit. All the ninjas stared at the corpse, keeping the area silent of words but full of the songs of a slight breeze, chirping birds, crush of the leaves, and… stomps of heavy footsteps? Looking back, those heavy footsteps were from Akatsuki, who was running away from something or someone. Because he had an arrow stuck in his hip and was starting to limp. Cho hurried and tried to calm him down as he kept rearing and kicking at his surroundings.

They finally got him to settle as he laid down onto the ground. Cho stroked his neck softly as Kotaro went back to try to pull out the penetrated arrow from his hip. Covering his eye with her hand she nodded and he quickly pulled out the arrow, making Akatsuki kick and attempt to get up. Saizo and Sasuke held him down until he relaxed than found some bandage to cover the deep wound.

"I'm going for a walk." Cho finally said after a long silence. Walking away before anyone had to answer, she tried to get some privacy to talk to Imahana. "Can you hear me?" She asked after a few minutes.

 _"Yes. I can't believe he really wanted his only son dead."_ Imahana replied with sorrow.

"We live in a messed up world princess. You gotta survive." Cho told her.

 _"Yeah, I understand._ " Imahana hung her head as she remembered all the things that happened in her lifetime.

"I grew up in fear after he killed my little brother. Then after learning this power from my master, I didn't look back at all my fears that followed me everywhere. And that's why I went to prison. Because I didn't fear prison. So here's some advice princess." Imahana's head slowly came up and she saw a transparent figure of Cho in front of her.

 _"What is it?"_ She asked her.

"Fear." Cho simply answered.

 _"Huh?"_ The one word answer to Imahana confused her. She didn't seem to understand.

"Remember when Kiko said fear when he first went into your body?" Imahana nodded. "He was actually scared."

 _"What do you mean he was scared? He didn't seem the slightest of all."_

"Yes he was. He actually said what he was feeling. He was thinking out loud. He was very scared. He knew all about how he would kill you if you were the one that got stabbed. He fought in fear. And he finally got to sleep in peace because of fear."

 _"So what you're saying is…"_

"Fear all that you should fear." Walking up to her, Cho placed her hand on Imahanas heart and looked her in the eye. "That means you should sometimes fear yourself."

 _"I fear myself?"_ Imahana didn't seem to understand that. But she took in all the words that slipped out of Cho's lips.

"It might come in handy someday." Cho said teasingly as she removed her hand from her heart. "I'm gonna leave you now. Just call me when you need my help." Bowing to the Princess, Cho disappeared into thin air and Imahana was back into her body.

"I fear myself?" She repeated to herself.

Imahana was lost in thought as she stood in the middle of a path that she was walking on and heard some light footsteps coming towards her. Turning around, she saw a mother wolf with her five pups. She stood in the middle of the path a ways away from Imahana and stared at her with interest. While Imahana started feeling some nostalgic feeling to what was happening. One of the little pups walked up to her with a funny, little wobble in his step and barked at Imahana. Sitting on the ground, she picked up the pup and scratched him on the ear. The mother wolf walked up to Imahana and laid down beside her as she watched Imahana play with the little pups without a worry in the world. She kept playing with them until she saw Jojo fly up to her and land on one of the pups heads. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw Kotaro run out into the open and stop a little ways away from her. Imahana quickly got up from the ground and ran towards him. Jumping into his open arms, they both held each other tightly as Kotaro spun her around as if he hasn't seen her for months. Placing her feet on the ground again, he made her look up at him and kissed her deeply.

"Maybe I should just ask you now." Kotaro says after they parted their lips.

"Ask me what?" Imahana asked.

"Will you marry me?" Kotaro asked Imahana as he cupped her face. Her eyes widened and started to tear as she heard those words come out of her lovers mouth.

She responded with another deep kiss onto her soon to be husbands lips.


End file.
